When it comes to the United States government (both federal and state), Islamorada medical waste management & removal of sharps is taken extremely serious. The reason for this is that it is imperative to prevent the transmission of life threatening blood-borne diseases, such as HIV and Hepatitis C.
Both the medical workers and the patients are in danger of getting infected by way of medical waste and improper removal of sharps is one of the main culprits when this occurs. This is why the U.S. government and its federal agencies have introduced a number of medical waste management laws and regulations to prevent this from happening.
Only Use Puncture-Resistant Containers for the Removal of Sharps
You can’t use just about any container or box you come across for the removal of sharps. Cardboard boxes, glass bottles, wooden crates and such just won’t do when it comes to being sharps containers. A sharps container needs to be both leak-proof and pierce-resistant. Hard plastic containers are the best for this and they also don’t break easily.
Do Not Use Recycled Sharps Containers
Most U.S. states have very strict medical waste management regulations that say that you cannot use recycled sharps continents and that you have to discard and destroy them together with the sharps waste inside them.
In some states you also have to include the words “Not Recyclable” or “Not for Recycling” somewhere on the sharps container (usually on the lid or at the front).
In certain states, you can use a previously recycled receptacle as a sharps container, but you cannot reuse a container (whether it was a sharps container or not) after it had already contained sharps waste.
Removal of Sharps
In most stated sharps containers are treated as biohazardous waste and are disposed according to the state’s medical waste management regulations. Contact the local health and waste disposal departments to find out about proper sharps disposal in your area.
Removal of Sharps in Your Home
Certain states also have removal of sharps programs for private homes. Contact a nearby hospitals or other health care facility and inquire about this. You can also sign up for a mail-back or pick up service with a medical waste management company.
Self-Injectors Disposal
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is responsible for giving guidelines for safe disposal of self-injector sharps. Guidelines such as these involve drop box and mail-back programs, as well as needle exchange programs (exchanging old needles for new ones).
Removal of Radioactive Sharps
Sharps waste that has been in contact with a radioactive material poses an even greater danger than “regular” sharps waste. As such, it is necessary to treat such a container and its contents as radioactive waste. This, among other things, means placing a radioactive tag, which lists the isotope type and how it is deactivated, in addition to writing “Sharps” on the tag.
A container such as this should only be handled by a Islamorada medical waste management & removal of sharps agency familiar with handling radioactive waste.
