Pulmonary Embolism Support Group

By far the most common form of pulmonary embolism is a thromboembolism, which occurs when a blood clot, generally a venous thrombus, becomes dislodged from its site of formation and embolizes to the arterial blood supply of one of the lungs. Symptoms may include difficulty breathing, pain during breathing, and more rarely circulatory instability and death.

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What do you do with medical waste?

TossNTurn
TossNTurn
Maybe I'm missing the obvious, but I can't figure out what to do with "medical waste" like my empty Lovenox syringes, the sharps from my home INR tester, and the test strips (with blood on 'em) from the home INR tester.

I'm not sure this stuff should go in regular trash, but I can't figure out what else to do with it that doesn't wind up becoming a major pain in the neck. I've got a whole baggie of needles and other stuff under my sink that has just been sitting there ...

Any suggestions? What do you folks do with this stuff?
emt4
emt4
Hi Toss, I was given a red sharps container in the hospital. I think it came with my lovenox kit.

For those who don't have a red sharps container...I just got a notice from my village about new recycling rules. It says on this notice to put all sharps, lancets and syringes in a puncture proof plastic container like a laundry detergent bottle with a top. When full, tape lid/top shut, label as "sharps" and place in regular garbage.

Hope this helps. You could also ask your pharmacist if this would be acceptable in your area. At least it would save you the money from buying a regular sharps container.
deleted_user
deleted_user
When I was taking Lovenox, I put the syringes in a Sharps Container and then took them to a needle exchange outfit, run by the municipality. Does your area have a needle exchange program?
Ferr
Ferr
If you don't have a sharps container get an old bleach bottle and put your used syringes in that. Take the bleach bottle to any hospital and they will dispose of it for you properly.
Hugs
ferr
deleted_user
deleted_user
I use an old peanut butter jar, and return them to the pharmacy along with old prescription meds that have expired.
LauraLu
LauraLu
Like emt4, when I was doing lovenox I put the used syringes in an old coffee can with a lid, duct taped it and disposed of in my regular trash. I have dentist customers who put their sharps in an isolyser sharps container, that gets filled with a cement-like substance and can then be tossed in the regular trash. But anything you get, if it has that Hazardous Waste symbol on it, you can NOT toss in the regular trash.
frkrhe
frkrhe
When I was using lovenox I was getting my blood tested more so I put the cap back on the used syringes, place them in a zipper bag and took them back to my doctors office who disposed of them for me.