Disposing of solostar pens

There have been many posts on here about the safe disposal of used insulin or other injectable meds on here. You should NEVER dispose of them in household waste. You have a sharps box - that's where they should go to be incinerated. It is classed as Clinical Waste and should be disposed safely. No medication should ever be disposed of in household waste whatever the inconvenience.

There is always a residue left in the pen so they can never be considered harmless just because there is no needle on it. My own used Byetta pens arealways disposed of in the sharps Bin - it only takes a quick phone call to get a replacement when its full.

Better to be safe than someone else be sorry - maybe an unsuspecting child !

You can now put them in household waste...just as long as there is no insulin in them. this is what the doctors told me when i asked them for a bigger sharps bin.

sorefinger said:

You can now put them in household waste...just as long as there is no insulin in them. this is what the doctors told me when i asked them for a bigger sharps bin.

Click to expand...

Despite what your GP says it is not supposed to be put in household waste according to the HSE and many council Waste departments. The GP's are not the ones who make the rules and are not the ones who enforce the regulations regarding the safe disposal.

I suppose if you broke the pen open and cleaned it out properly that would be OK but hand on heart how many do you know that would do that ?

We have had this discussuion many times before and we get the same conflicting advice from HCP's. The Clinic I attend even offer to safely dispose of the pens after use if any Patient has difficulty disposing of the pens safely. Whatever you do it Is your personal responsibility for safe disposal. Me - I think of others safety before my own inconvenience. What I was taught both as a kid and an Adult at work dealing with hazardous chemicals. Medication of any sort is hazardous whatever any GP tells you. Maybe they just don't want to provide the proper means of disposal.

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What's high handed about giving you a response to your question. You don't like the answer - not my problem. I have to dispose of my pens too so I think I have a valid opinion - just not the same as you !
Telling you it has been discussed before is a fact - being helpful. Maybe we should just let you get on with it in future.

As for patronising ........

:roll:

This as Ken has said has come up before and there is no clear agreement.
I live in France, however we are still governed by EU law which unless the UK has chosen to be 'stricter'should be the same. The leaflets that come with my sharps box say that cannulas, tubing (from pumps), testing strips, (something a lot of people throw in the household waste) needles should all be placed in the sharps box: no mention of disposable pens or vials. Certainly when in hospital pens and empty vials go in the normal rather than clinical waste bin.

The info from the Novo website says:
' Always consult your local regulation regarding the available options for prefilled device disposal. In general, the insulin pen can be disposed of as household waste provided that the needle has been removed. The used insulin pen can then be incinerated releasing only CO2 and water. Land-filling of a disposed insulin pen will not harm the environment beyond the actual use of land, because no chemicals will be released.'
http://www.novonordisk.com/diabetes/insulin_pen.asp
You may be lucky and find clear local instructions, those that I have looked up have don't mention how to dispose of pens; indeed some local authorities in the UK are still saying it is OK to put sharps in a sealed container and dispose of them with the household waste. (definitely against EU regulations)
Maybe someone needs to ask Diabetes UK or their local environmental waste authority for a definitive answer.

Hi Phoenix
I wish someone would bang a few heads together. As we found in previous discussions about this it can depend on which part of the country you live in as to what local rules apply. My area classes insulin pens and similar pens the same as syringes so says they should be disposed away from household waste, other areas are different again. Even in large metropolitan areas here there are different views as to what should happen. My own Diabetic Clinic instructs patients to put them in a sharps box. Even the best run councils here are not averse to ignoring rules and advice on cost grounds ! . Last time we checked out some Council websites around the country and manufacturers we got as many different answers. However the consensus was that it should be treated as clinical waste and that's what we advise. As before people are free to do what they like if they don't agree.

You volunteering to do the 'spade work' and get a definitive answer ? I wish you luck. :wink:

Ken

I used to throw my empty insulin cartridges into the bin, I now use an insulin pump so have to fill the cartridges for this from the old fashioned vials.. The empty vial and the finshed insulin pump cartridge all gets put into the waste bin..

Insulin pens aren't exactly clinical waste product, but actually come under the safe disposal of medication regulations!

Which basically means, that any full or partly used medication must be returned to the chemist who prescibed it for self disposal!!! Any empty packaging can be thrown in normal waste bin! so the pen is nothing more than empty packaging..

Even used test stips aren't considered clinical waste! Check the insert leaflet it tells you these can be disposed in normal waste!!!

This type of debate, actually shows that health and safety gone made in some circumstances indeed...

I remeber the days, that we used to put our used syringes into a old drinks can, when full tape securely and into the rubbish bin..

Now .......why do the words Deja vu spring to mind ........

:wink: