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Medtronic 640g and sharps bin?

Nicola M

Nicola M

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Staff Member
Moderator
Messages
985
Location
Nottinghamshire
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Pump
Was going to order some supplies for my new medtronic pump and I noticed on their web shop they don't do a sharps bin? For my previous pump animas you could order a 5l one. So what do you fellow medtronic users do with your sharps? I have the minimed mio sets as well if that's of any use!
 
In Glasgow we don't get sharps bins. I was told to put needles and lancets in a plastic bottle and when full put it in the rubbish bin.
When I started on Mio sets, I asked what I should do with those and was told just to put the lid back on and put it in bin. I'm sure other areas have better ideas.
 
I put my Mio in the normal rubbish bin. I first de-venom them with a pair of pliers. I remove the sting and put that in the sharps bin. I chop the cannula plastic thing off deep in the clip thing and that goes in the sharp bin with the lancets and BGL strips the rest in the normal rubbish, there is not much sharps rubbish and totally hygienic.
 
I would ask my diabetes team what to do. They are the ones that moved you from Animas to Medtronic and should have negotiated the same deal.
I understand the Animas was no longer available but that is no excuse for getting rid of the sharps bins,
 
Thank you all for the replies, emailed my diabetes nurse and asked for advice. My local doctors are sadly funny about what bins they will prescribe (when I first started pumping they said they wouldn't do 5l ones but thankfully animas supplied them anyway) so it'll be interesting to see what will happen!
 
I fold the needle back into the plastic part and then throw it all in the recycling bin as instructed by my DNS. Not had a reliable way of doing anything else for years.
 
I'm with Animas but moving to Medtronic. My GP don't supply anymore either. I think I have to try and get them from my local council. I ordered a huge box of bins from Animas to give me time to sort it!
 
If you remove the sharp from the cannula inserter, as @tim2000s showed, you don't need a large sharps bin.
Since I started removing my sharp point (and recycling the plastic), it took me 18 months to fill a 5l sharps bin.
This saved time (I don't have to keep contacting my council to collect the sharps and Animas to provide more bins), money (the cost of collection, delivery and bins), less fuel spent on delivery and collection, recycled plastic with the inserter, ...
I can't believe I spent a year chucking out the full cannula inserter in a sharps bin.
 
I only put the actual needle in sharps bin. I pull the sharp needle bits out with tiny blunt nail clippers. The remaining plastic and tube, I put in normal bin
 
I remove the needle from the plastic and throw plastic part in normal bin, I'm never sure if the plastic is recycleable.
 
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