Disposal of Humira Syringes

vadreamer1

Regular Member

Joined : Aug 2006

Posts : 198

Posted 1/18/2009 5:32 PM (GMT 0)

Ok. I started Humira. I bought a red sharps container. I'm not quite sure how to deal with all this. I have seen on the web that diabetics chop the needle off the syringe. Do both pieces go into the sharps container? What if you put the whole thing in there? Then, once the container is full - what do I do with it? I live in a condo and we have a trash dumpster. I dont feel comfortable putting it in there. I'd appreciate any guidance you guys can lend me. Thanks.

LMills

Veteran Member

Joined : Apr 2008

Posts : 1753

Posted 1/18/2009 5:48 PM (GMT 0)

They were supposed to give you a sharps container for free....

You can dispose of the 'one' and 'two' caps as well as the alcohol pads regularly. The rest of the pen goes directly into the sharps container. Once it's full you can either take it to the hospital to be disposed of or call humira's sharps disposal service. They can NOT be disposed of in the regular garbage can. I believe this method is illegal anyhow.

I'm surprised your doctor or nurse didn't go over this already though...they are supposed to :/

Howlyncat

Elite Member

Joined : Jan 2005

Posts : 24909

Posted 1/18/2009 6:14 PM (GMT 0)

I know I got my sharps container for free and
I took it to the pharmacy for disposal

Just a suggestion

mkl11

Veteran Member

Joined : Jul 2007

Posts : 530

Posted 1/18/2009 10:12 PM (GMT 0)

If you can, return the one you bought. Humira will definitely send you a free one. I was told to put the whole pen in (not sure if that includes the caps) and once it's full (I guess in a year) I was told to ship it back to them. However I might take howlyncat's suggestion and take it to a pharmacy.

AKTeach

Regular Member

Joined : Sep 2005

Posts : 83

Posted 1/19/2009 2:14 AM (GMT 0)

I take my used sharps (in the box they gave me) to my GI doc and they give me a new box. It works well for me!!!

patientspiders

Veteran Member

Joined : Jul 2005

Posts : 735

Posted 1/19/2009 8:46 AM (GMT 0)

I used the GI's office for this service too. They charge me enough, gosh darn it. They can get rid of my medical waste!

randynoguts

Veteran Member

Joined : Jan 2003

Posts : 6298

Posted 1/19/2009 9:58 AM (GMT 0)

depends on where you live i suppose.. it is perfectlylegal in my state to put syringes in the regular trash as long as they are in a capped container.. the trash company prefers you use a 2 liter soda bottle.. but any who.. yes sharps containers are usually given at the pharmacy.. we get little ones, ( about a quart) and some big ones 9 about 4 gallon!) sometimes, but we are using syringes by the case here. some pharmacies still take them back but most dont anymore since its legal to put them in the trash.. it may be that very few places dont have automated garbage collection anymore. the driver never touches trash. its all mechanical from pickup-to- dump.

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