News - October 31, 2007
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PRESS RELEASE: SYRINGES INJURE TRASH COLLECTORS
A September 06, 2006 news article by Jamon Smith, Staff Writer for the Tuscaloosa News reported a concern for syringes injuring trash collectors. There had been several cases of garbage collectors being stuck by used needles and this has Northport officials urging residents to dispose of used needles properly.
Larry Boshell, director of Northport’s Public Works, said several garbage collectors have recently been stuck by used hypodermic needles when making their rounds. The garbage collectors were treated for their injuries and tested for infection. None of them have gotten sick so far, he said. “If one of my guys gets stuck, that’s one too many," Boshell said. He believes most of the needles found in residents’ garbage were used for medical purposes. Boshell said a garbage collector usually gets stuck once or twice a year. The Public Works office has periodically sent notices to residents reminding them to properly dispose their syringes, but apparently some people aren’t heeding the message. “Grabbing trash bags that aren’t in trash cans is how my workers are getting stabbed," Boshell said it would cost $600,000 to purchase trash carts and even more money to buy the new trucks and lifts needed to lift them.
On average, insulin-dependant Medicare beneficiaries inject themselves three times a day. The entire population injects themselves 1.4 billion times annually, making accidents inevitable. Medicare currently spends over $130 billion annually for medical treatment and complications of diabetics. Potential savings to Medicare could be substantial if only a fraction of these complications could be prevented through safe and effective needle disposal.
Governor Schwarzenegger has signed a California Bill (SB 1305) prohibiting the placement of home-generated needles and other sharps in solid waste and recycling containers, which received broad support from local governments, diabetes educators, environmental groups, labor organizations and the solid waste industry. California has become one of the first states in the nation to ban sharps waste from the residential waste stream. Effective September 1, 2008, SB 1305 will close a major loophole in California's Medical Waste Act by requiring home-generated sharps waste to be transported only in approved sharps containers and to be managed only at state approved locations. California residents will no longer be allowed to dispose of used needles and other sharps waste in solid waste and recycling containers.
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