Sharps Containers

3 sizes

Types of sharps

• Needles – hollow needles used to inject medication under the skin.
• Syringes – with attached needles. Syringes are used to inject medication into or withdraw fluid from the body.
• Lancets – short, two-edged blades used to get drops of blood for testing. Lancets are also called fingerstick devices.
• Auto-injectors – pre-filled syringes with attached needles. (This will not fit in the 80Ml unit)

Used needles and other sharps are dangerous if they aren’t disposed of safely. They can injure people and spread infections that cause serious health conditions such as hepatitis B, hepatitis C and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).

Always place loose needles and other sharps into approved sharps containers wherever you are. This includes home, work, school and travelling (including public places such as hotels, parks and restaurants).

When you get your medication from your pharmacy, talk to a member of staff about whether you can bring your used sharps back for disposal. In many regions, this is an available option.

Pharmacies may accept your sharps in a suitable household container (they’ll tell you which ones are safe to use) or they may sell you a yellow or purple sharps container.

You can also purchase sharps containers from medical waste disposal companies, which may include a pickup service.

Important:

• Do not place sharps in household or public rubbish bins, Council residential waste bins or recycling bins.
• Some containers such as milk bottles can be quite dangerous as the needles can pierce the plastic.
• Do not put sharp objects in any container that you plan to recycle and do not use glass or clear plastic containers.
• Make sure that you keep all containers with sharp objects out of reach of children and pets.
• Do not flush sharps down the toilet.