Any needle syringe needs to be collected in an impervious container and disposed as biohazardous waste, no exceptions.  In Illinois, non-needle syringes can be disposed in the regular trash but a facility must think long and hard about how their regular trash is collected and stored before pickup (i.e. is it secure?).  And, is your municipal trash collector going to freak when they see all these syringes in the trash and maybe reject the load?  In my facility, I require that all syringes, needle or not, be collected as biowaste.  A facility where I managed waste in the past generated literally tons of non-needle syringes from clinical studies.  We collected these in fiber drums and paid to have them disposed as non-hazardous waste thru our haz waste vendor which was cheaper than going thru the biowaste vendor.  This way, I had control of the syringes.  It’s state to state on the status of non-needle syringes and a good point to start would be with your biohazardous waste vendor.  Considering the reasons why we have biowaste laws (remembering all the medical waste on the beaches of New Jersey), I think it’s better to take the safe route and collect anything syringe-like as biowaste.  Also, used scalpels and razors are also Potentially Infectious Medical Waste (PIMW) and  must be collected in impervious containers in the same way as needle syringes.

Rachel E. Harrington, MPH, CHMM

Director - Office of Environmental, Health, and Safety

Rosalind Franklin University< b> of Medicine and Science

3333 Green Bay Road

North Chicago, IL  60064

W  847-578-3420

M  224-622-4244

LIFE IN DISCOVERY

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From: DCHAS-L Discussion List [mailto:DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**list.uvm.edu] On Behalf Of Williams, Mark
Sent: Tuesday, June 15, 2010 11:07 AM
To: DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**LIST.UVM.EDU
Subject: [DCHAS-L] Syringe Disposal

Hi All,

We use syringes to deliver solvents. Some of the syringes have needles, some do not. None contain any biohazardous substance, but the solvents would be hazardous waste if disposed of.

*For syringes without needles, if they are empty when disposed of, can we consider each syringe to be a RCRA empty container and throw them in the regular trash?

*What about empty, non-biohazardous syringes with needles?

I have done a little searching on this issue, but have not come up with definitive guidance.

Thank you

Mark Williams

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From: DCHAS-L Discussion List [mailto:DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**list.uvm.edu] On Behalf Of DCHAS-L automatic digest system
Sent: Tuesday, June 15, 2010 12:01 AM
To: DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**LIST.UVM.EDU
Subject: DCHAS-L Digest - 13 Jun 2010 to 14 Jun 2010 (#2010-144)