Syringes with no needles - garbage or sharps container?

babynurselsa, RN · Jun 5, 2006

If there is no needle attached it is perfectly appropriate to toss the syringe in teh garbage. Biohazard and sharp disposal is a very costly expenditure for your facility. I remember hearing the figure many years ago the cost per pound. They mentioned this in orientation to discourage the use of sharps and red boxes for general garbage. (hate to literally see your next raise go to the trash guy....)

UM Review RN, ASN, RN · Jun 5, 2006

I do dispose of the syringes with the needle-less ends in the sharps, because they can pierce things. But I'll put the syringes with no ends into the regular trash.

prmenrs, RN · Jun 5, 2006

I dispose of all syringes in the sharps box--I don't want some druggie digging thru the hospital garbage looking for goodies.

Hoozdo, ADN · Jun 5, 2006

I dispose of all syringes in the sharps box--I don't want some druggie digging thru the hospital garbage looking for goodies.

That is the main reason some nurses in my unit dispose of them in the sharps container. They are rather insistent they are disposed of in the sharps. I am more of the opinion - so, what will they do with an empty needleless syringe? Will they be happier if they find a 60 cc syringe than a 3 cc syringe? I am not trying to be a smart *ss......just trying to understand other's opinions.

:blushkiss

Gompers, BSN, RN · Jun 5, 2006

That is the main reason some nurses in my unit dispose of them in the sharps container. They are rather insistent they are disposed of in the sharps. I am more of the opinion - so, what will they do with an empty needleless syringe? Will they be happier if they find a 60 cc syringe than a 3 cc syringe? I am not trying to be a smart *ss......just trying to understand other's opinions.
:blushkiss

Exactly.

I really don't care what the druggies do with our garbage. I am more concerned with the amount of money it takes for the hospital to dispose of sharps as opposed to regular garbage. I see people take a 60cc syringe used for tube feedings and toss it in the sharps container - no needle had ever even touched that syringe! It's not called a syringe container - it's called a sharps container. But these nurses are filling up sharps containers one after another with huge, empty, needle-less 60cc syringes!

I even dispose of the blunt-tipped needle-less needles in the regular garbage. If I've just used one to draw blood from an arterial line, then that one I'll put in the sharps container since it's got blood all over it. But one that was high up in the IV line with no blood or anything on it - it just goes in the trash.

I've also seen people putting vials of medications in the sharps box. There is no reason for this! I suppose someone could go through the hospital trash, but that is not what the point of a sharps container is - it's not security against theft, it's security against needlesticks.

Roy Fokker, BSN, RN · Jun 5, 2006

If it's got fluids - body fluids (by some freak chance whatever) it's going in the sharps.

Else, I goes for two points in the trash can :)

OTOH - sometimes it got so busy in the ER that I'd end up junking it in the sharps anyways :uhoh21:

grinnurse, RN · Jun 5, 2006

Good poll. At the last hosp that I was at all syringes, needles or not, went into the sharps as well as the glass med vials b/c of the possible risk to housekeeping if they broke................that's what I was told anyway. However, it doesn't make much sense to me. Was also told that the prefilled syringes with like Roxanol should also be discarded in the sharps b/c it was a narc. I had been putting them in the trash b/c no needle and I am like what are the druggies going to do take the plunger out and lick the inside of the syringe? I would seem like with as many plastic syringes as the health system goes through in the US that someone would be trying to recycle them somehow.

Trauma Columnist · Jun 5, 2006

I put syringes alone in the garbage. However, if they had the needleless adapter (little clear or blue pointy thing), then it goes in the sharps container. Vials of meds have to be disposed of in the sharps container - but they are tiny and take up very little room.

Altra, BSN, RN · Jun 5, 2006

I cap the needle or needleless end, twist that off & toss it in the sharps container - the syringe itself goes into the trash unless I've used it to draw blood. I do put glass med vials & tubes in the sharps also - there was an incident at my facility where a patient's family member broke an empty narc tubex that had been left on the counter in the patient's room and proceeded to try to suck out any remaining drops, lacerated her tongue, etc. etc. Not a pretty scene.

prmenrs, RN · Jun 5, 2006

Re-capping a needle is the most common way of getting a needle stick. We have sharps containers readily available--no recapping!!! We also have separate containers for pharmacological waste, i.e., med vials, and another for IV sets, and another for batteries. I'm sure the med-surg/oncology areas have yet another for Chemo stuff.

What does your hospital policy say to do?? Hate to start a precedent, but you could always do what they want you to!!! :eek: :eek:

Altra, BSN, RN · Jun 5, 2006

We have sharps containers and garbage cans. All the trash in our department, regardless of what can you throw it in, is considered "red bag trash."

As far as recapping needles ... 70% of the meds I give are IV push, so the needle involved is a blunt tip needle. Yes, I prefer to recap it. I'm often giving more than one med, so I'm still at the patient's bedside, and while the sharps container isn't a far distance away, it's fairly likely that there's a bedside table, a portable monitor, an IV pole, a vent, and/or a family member or 2 or 3 between me & the sharps container in our tiny ER treatment rooms! :uhoh3:

Insulin & IM needles, and angiocaths obviously just get retracted immediately after use.

Syringes with no needles - garbage or sharps container?

used syringes without needles: