Figeuroa introduces measure to properly dispose of medical sharps

2004-02-10
Will Assist Self-Injecting Patients to Safely Dispose of Needles and Syringes

(Sacramento, CA)—Today, State Senator Liz Figueroa (D-Fremont) introduced legislation aimed at reducing the public's risk of being punctured by discarded needles and syringes and other common 'sharps' -- a medical term for hypodermic needles, syringes, lancets, and anything that is used to penetrate or cut the skin.

Every year more than 2 billion needles and syringes are used outside of healthcare settings -- diabetics, hemophiliacs, infertility patients, allergy sufferers and others. This growing population of self-injected individuals have no real method of safely disposing the sharps. Most of the needles are improperly stored and end up in municipal trash or recycling containers and pose serious health risks to children, workers and the general public.

"California has the nation's most comprehensive hazardous and medical waste laws which apply to large commercial activities, not to individual households," said Senator Figueroa. "We need to go one step further and provide an adequate framework to safely collect and destroy the millions of needles generated by self-injecting individuals."

Senate Bill 1362, authored by Senator Figueroa, will expand the scope of household hazardous waste programs and will give cities and counties the ability to include a sharps collection program in their household hazardous waste plans, which local governments are currently not allowed to collect.

"The Alameda Sharps Coalition is thrilled that Senator Figueroa has taken on this issue," said County Supervisor Keith Carson. "In Alameda County alone we have almost 30,000 diabetics using needles to administer their medicine. Most used needles end up in the solid waste system, where they pose a grave health risk to anyone who encounters them. SB 1362 allows Counties such as ours to develop a more comprehensive plan to deal with these used needles."

In California, many groups are impacted by the lack of a safe needle disposal program. Waste pick-up route drivers, landfill workers, recycling center workers, employees of hotels, health clubs, parks and recreation departments, transportation departments (CalTrans, BART, airlines, and airports), janitorial workers, police departments, restaurants and laundry facilities are often confronted with discarded needles in the workplace.
Waste Management, California's largest recycler of municipal waste, is a member of the coalition supporting SB 1362. According to Kent Stoddard, Vice President of Public Affairs, "the passage of this bill is essential to protecting waste collectors and recyclers from the growing number of needles and syringes that are showing up in the waste stream."