Sharps disposal law goes into effect July 1Date: 6/18/2012 June 18, 2012
By Debbie Gardner
debbieg@thereminder.com
GREATER SPRINGFIELD — Individuals who use syringes, lancets, pen needles and other medical "sharps" to treat illnesses at home will soon need to find a new way to dispose of them.
As of July 1, a 4-year-old Code of Massachusetts Regulations (CMR) regarding medical waste disposal will go into effect, making it illegal for residents to put such medical sharps in household trash collections, regardless of how carefully they are packaged, sealed up or labeled.
"The big change is this now relates to residents," Beverly Hirschhorn, health director for the town of Longmeadow, said. "Doctor's offices and Boards of Health always had to dispose of sharps as medical waste. Now home users are under the same restriction."
The ruling, 105CMR 480, was passed by the Legislature in 2008 with the intent of better controlling the disposal of various types of medical waste, as well as to protect individuals who handle trash disposal from inadvertent exposure to hazardous chemicals, pathogens and blood-borne illnesses. The residential portion of enforcement was delayed until July 2012 to give cities and towns time to develop methods to assist residents with sharps disposal.
Hirschhorn said the number of individuals this new restriction would effect goes beyond diabetics acknowledged to be the largest users of such items to individuals who treat arthritis, psoriasis and other types of conditions with injectable medications and/or blood testing at home. The growing use of injectable medications to treat pets' illnesses compounds the problem.
"We really need to get the word out to the public," she said.
Hirschhorn explained that Longmeadow would not serve as a collection point for residents who need to find proper disposal of these items after July 1. However, the town has purchased a quantity of approved sharps containers with a mail-back provision that will be for sale in anticipation of the new restriction.
"We are selling kits at cost," Hirschhorn said. "The kits contain the red medical disposal box with a pre-addressed shipping container."
Those containers, she said, are to be mailed directly back to a medical disposal company that will properly process the waste.
Hirschhorn said the cost to purchase a quart-size waste container is $20, and a gallon size container is $25. The town has also purchased a number of special devices that snip off and store the needle part of syringes, reducing the amount of sharps waste an individual must manage. The charge for that device is $5.
These medical waste disposal items will be available at the Greenwood Adult Center, Longmeadow Council on Aging Office, 231 Maple Road, and at the Longmeadow Public Works Department, 31 Pondside Road, during normal business hours, she added.
The two Longmeadow CVS pharmacies, as well as the pharmacy located inside the Big Y on Williams Street, will also have sharps containers with mail-back provisions available for sale. Hirschhorn said she did not have costs for those services.
Helen Caulton-Harris, director of Health and Human Services for the City of Springfield, said her office has been referring individuals who call about sharps disposal to a site operated by Tapestry Health at 130 Maple St.
Tapestry Health Lavoz Program Supervisor Nellie Kuilan told Reminder Publications that free sharps collections take place on the building's lower level Monday to Friday from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Individuals with questions can call that site at 363-9474.
"Tapestry Health has been a partner with us and accepts sharps [for disposal]," Caulton-Harris said. She noted, however, that the number of individuals using this free service has not been great, and her department has been considering expanding the sites were people can bring medical sharps for free disposal.
She said her department is considering creating a sharps disposal site at its adolescent health center, located at 11 Wilbraham Road, second floor, and also at its health center at 755 Worthington St., Springfield. Neither site, she said, is expected to be up and running for collections by July 1.
"The department is also considering if there is an agency or organization or health center in the North End of Springfield where we can partner so we can assure that there is a disposal unit that is accessible to the major corridors of Springfield," Caulton-Harris said.
She added that, given the growing use of injectable medicines for pets, she is considering contacting the Thomas J. O'Connor Animal Control Center about placing a sharps collection container at the site.
"The city is thinking about how to implement a broader [sharps] disposal program so we can make sure all individuals have access," Caulton-Harris said. "We need to make sure we are giving folks information about what they can do."
The towns of East Longmeadow and Wilbraham were contacted but did not return information on their sharps disposal programs by press time.
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