Does anyone get charged for sharp bin pickup??

[Mervyn]

Hi,
Is there anyone on the forum who have to pay their local council for picking up sharps bins?? I have just telephoned my local council to pick up my sharps bin, which I do about every 3 to 4 weeks.

She had a bit of a moan that I am asking for them to be picked up so often!! She said the council may, as they are legally able to, charge in the near future!!!!

I explained that our local PCT will only allow 1 litre boxes on prescription and her answer was that I would have to take it up with them and my GP. I explained that I had already spoken to my GP and he could do nothing about it. I also explained that I was changing from pre-filled to a cartridge system, but why should I have to explain and defend myself to a local authority worker??

I asked what they would do with people on low income, pension etc who could not afford any charges and she basically said they would have to find the money.

Anyway back to my original question...does anyone pay their council to pickup their sharps bins??

Thanks.

Mervyn

 

[anna29]

Hi mervyn.
No I dont pay anything for my local council sharps bin pick up [once a week every tuesday]
plus my own GP's are happy to take my full sharps bin also.
Have 'both' options to use ! No charge from either .... :thumbup:
Hope this helps?
Anna.

 

[Mervyn]

Thankyou Anna,
Neither our GP or Pharmacies will accept them anymore. The local council does legally have to pick them up but they are also allowed to charge!! It is not my fault that we can only get 1 litre boxes on prescription. She was also moaning that they now had 800 clients and it costs a lot of money!!

We all have enough to worry about with our Diabetes and other health conditions withou all this. It has upset me more than I would have expected. I would get in touch with my local councillor or direct to senior management at the council but then the woman would know and she may be even more unhelpful next time.

Thanks
Mervyn

 

[elainechi]

we get ours via the council and they are free. however i think we won.t need one for a year or 2 as we have a much bigger bin now. perhaps this may be a thought for you. ask for a large one x

 

[LittleGreyCat]

One idea - why don't you store up your sharps bins somewhere safe and only have them picked up once a quarter when they will get several at once.

Thiis is more efficient and cost effective for the council, and I don't thin k that you are increasing your risk as long as you have somewhere safe to store the bins.

 

[Mervyn]

we get ours via the council and they are free. however i think we won.t need one for a year or 2 as we have a much bigger bin now. perhaps this may be a thought for you. ask for a large one x

We can only get 1 Litre on prescription yet our next door town which is under the same Health Area have theirs delivered by the Council and what size they require. I suggested this but the council said there was no chance of that happening.

As for storing them up we just do not have the space in our small house and of course I do not want our grandchildren to be able to get to them. One is ok as we can store it on a shelf.

Mervyn