I have a survey question. Do you dispose of used syringes with NO needles in the garbage or sharps container?
Personally, I prefer the garbage since there is no needle with the syringe. There is very limited space in the sharps container and I go through about fifty 10 ccs syringes a shift. The garbage can is also more convenient than the sharps container. As far as I know, there is no policy in place for disposal of syringes at my facility.
Actually in my experence it depends on the state. For example in MI it is/was illegal to throw a syringe in the trash- ie the hospital could get fined if they were found thereps box. We were even suppose to cut the spikes off IV tubing and put those in the sharps box. Here in Fl the hospitals I have been in we were advised they go in the sharps per hospital policy.
I throw empty PCA syringes into the sharps container because they contained narcs. Needle-less syringes, including those used for flushes or for deflating catheter balloons, go in the trash. The little med vials also go in the trash. Yes, they could possibly be broken, but the glass is actually quite thick in proportion to their overall size. You'd probably have to take a hammer to the little darlings. Dropping them doesn't seem to phase them. I speak from experience.
That said, I try to apply some common sense. I usually try to make sure that no vials or syringes are sitting on top of the trash heap. It doesn't take much effort to make the items "disappear." If my patient has a history of substance abuse or there are any other questionable circumstances, I'll take the vial or syringe out of the room and throw it in less accessible trash receptacle.
I no longer use the whopper syringes meant for tube feedings, but when I did, they also went into the trash.
As others have mentioned, sharps containers are horrendously expensive to dispose of. I save their use for needles, PCA syringes, lancets, and anything other items with a high potential for hazards or abuse.
I was taught (when sharps containers first came out) that only sharps went in there, as they cost more to dispose of than regular hazardous waste. They are supposed to be incinerated into a molten lump, but not burned.
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.
When it comes to med vials, they should go into the sharps - not because of meds, but because in my facility anything that is sharp or could become sharp goes in the sharps bin. Theory: med vial made of glass - not sharp - but if it breaks then it becomes sharp. What happens when the housekeeper bumps the trash bag against the tile floor and that med vial shatters? Bag gets punctured, glass shards go on the floor, that 2 year old whose parents allow him to run around barefoot now has a lac, or the housekeeper gets stabbed by something sharp that she doesn't know if it was a needle or glass or if it ever had body fluids on it or not. IMHO glass should always go in the sharps box.
It is our new hospital policy that all syringes go in a sharps container. I personally don't agree with it, because we use them for feeding our babies. So, there are a lot that don't have any biohazardous waste.
rjflyn, ASN, RN
1,240 Posts
Actually in my experence it depends on the state. For example in MI it is/was illegal to throw a syringe in the trash- ie the hospital could get fined if they were found thereps box. We were even suppose to cut the spikes off IV tubing and put those in the sharps box. Here in Fl the hospitals I have been in we were advised they go in the sharps per hospital policy.
Rj