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Sharps Bin - on holiday in the UK

El_em

Member
Messages
23
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Hi

I've been living in the Netherlands and am going to be back in the UK for Christmas - does anyone know if it's possible to get a sharps bin from a pharmacy? The one I have here is huge and would take up most of my suitcase so I'd rather get one in the UK once I'm back (for 10 days) and dispose of it before I leave. I've had a quick google and it sounds suspiciously like I would need a prescription, is that right?

Thanks in advance
 


If you were to need a prescription for Boots, or wherever, you could always go to Screwfix: https://www.screwfix.com/p/wallace-cameron-sharps-bin-0-65ltr/8859f#_=p

I'm certain you can, and positive you can find from the tiniest to the largest on eBay. If you're going to family, you could have it sent there for your arrival? https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_....H0.Xsharps+bin.TRS0&_nkw=sharps+bin&_sacat=0

If you notice on eBay, they're talking about tattoo parlours and so on, and Screrwfix, it's probably for scalpel/Stanley knife blades.

Alternatively, you could save your sharps in an empty (small) water bottle, and decant when you get home?

Enjoy your break.
 
Pop into a boots. They sell small ones over the counter for £1.50
 
@Tipetoo - I don't think the orange topped one is quite right, as it excludes sharps for medicinal compounds. I think the yellow top is the more usual one in UK. It certainly is for far sharps "containing" more benign stuff, like local anaesthestics.

Granted the site you linked to does stock yellow top too.

In any case, I think @El_em has lots of options.
 
DCUKMod said:
@Tipetoo

Granted the site you linked to does stock yellow top too.

In any case, I think @El_em has lots of options.
Click to expand...
I posted it to show what a Google search can do, it gives the OP the ability to search further when planning a holiday in a foreign country
 
For a 10 day holiday, I would never bother with a sharps bin.
I put my sharps in a small drinks bottle and decant them into my sharps bin when I get home.
If you buy a sharps bin in the UK, it may not be easy getting rid of it. Take a look around the forum and you will find many posts from UK residents struggling to find a GP or pharmacy willing to take them.
 
So how DO people get rid of the meter test strips & Lance's.?

( I've got mine in a plastic pot..suppose I should get a sharps bin.)
 
Only this week I had the same problem. Pharmacist said take to GP surgery, they should send with their clinical waste.GP surgery refused. took it to the local walk in center, (in the same building) no problem at all.
Local council offer too many hoops to jump through.
 
jjraak said:
So how DO people get rid of the meter test strips & Lance's.?

( I've got mine in a plastic pot..suppose I should get a sharps bin.)
Click to expand...
It depends where you live.
Some GPS take them. Some pharmacists take them. Some only take them if they were on NHS prescription. In my areas, the council collects them.
However, for the first 12 years of diabetes (injecting and testing ), I was told to put my sharps in a plastic bottle and put it out with normal waste.
 
I would ask the hotel where I’m staying to accommodate me with one. I ask for it to help protect their people so I’m not putting sharp things in the trash. I have not had a hotel say no to me yet.
 
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