This problem has been around for ages. Before retiring I worked in the NHS and part of my role was the management and disposal of clinical waste, which includes sharps. I should add that I have been a T1 diabetic for over 45 yrs. It is illegal to put waste into the wrong waste stream, for example even at home if your council offer a separate collection of plastic you should by law only put plastic in that waste stream. Going back to sharps it is the same, someone wrote that they was told to put sharps in a plastic bottle and put the top on, this is totally wrong. All diabetics are entitled to a sharps box which is 500ml in size, this should be filled with blood testing sticks and in my opinion needles as they can (even if clipped) cause injury. I always used to put needles, sharps and finger prickers in the sharps box, although some finger prickers are enclosed and I think it is OK to put them in general waste. Another issue is the collection, some surgeries will collect for disposal, others won't and you have to use others surgeries, this is because the agreed contracts with the NHS and waste collection providers are different in different parts of the country, so cases CCGs pick up the cost, some surgeries pick up the cost or another agent such as NHS Property Services. I would suggest that you talk with your surgery and get them to supply you with a sharps box, put your blood testing sticks in it and also ask for a clipper for needles which according to my surgery can then go into general waste. Finally, please ensure your sharp boxes are full to the line, as very often the NHS are charged the same for disposal whether the box has one item in it or full to the fill line. I did try to get larger boxes on prescription as it was more cost effective to dispose of a 7 litre box when compared to a 500 ml box, but to no avail. Until the NHS take this issue seriously and all CCGs, trusts etc deal with it as one there will always be questions raised over this. Sorry the reply is so long winded, but it was a pet issue that I tried many times to get resolved but always ran into brick walls.