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Type 1 Travelling and sharps box

patchworks101

Active Member
Messages
39
Type of diabetes
LADA
Treatment type
Insulin
Dislikes
Being diabetic
Hi all,
I'm going away for 17 days next week and I've just had a sudden panic - what do I do with my sharps box? No problem for the journey there, I can keep used bits in my travel pouch and take an empty box with me, but what about coming back. Do pharmacies just take them in for disposal like they do at home?
Thanks
 
Probably, don't worry about them too much, they're generally secure enough that you'd not get into it anyway from a security point of view.
 
I use a small "Tupperware" type box when travelling (just get one of the cheap copies you can buy at any supermarket or pound shop), then I just dump the sharps into my normal sharps box when I get home.

I once bought some handy, official looking 200ml sharps boxes onlinehttp://www.amazon.co.uk/2x-200ml-Sh...236269&sr=8-1-fkmr0&keywords=200ml+sharps+box but couldn't find a chemist willing to accept them which was a real nuisance. Not even my GP would accept it. Luckily, on an outpatients visit, I persuaded a nurse to take a box off me, but it was done as a favour.
 

Not being in your position, I'm just speculating; If you are accumulating used sharps for the 17 days, having transported the container there with you, could you not just bring it back in your luggage? If you are flying, if it concerns you, then hold luggage, assuming you have any?
 
@AndBreathe
Cheap flights, hand luggage only I think Ledzept is right, use a cheap tupperware box and if necessary let security keep it at check in.
 
Safe Clip is great, but it leaves a sharp piece of metal which penetrates the cartiridge inside the plastic bit, so remains still need to be place in rigid container, NOT "thrown into ordinary rubbish". I use 35mm film pots for transporting small quantities of used sharps when travelling. I start with 1 or more pots of pen needles (usuallly mixed) and lancets, and one empty one, which is gradually filled.
 
Depending on where you are going some hotels and resorts will provide a sharps box and collect it from your room just before you depart, I have a number of family members who have done this in past.

From memory its mainly the big hotel chains, disney world and some cruise lines.
 
I agree with ledzeptt and scimama both of these options are better and what I follow myself. With regards to sharps bins you need to take care, as it is illegal to transport used sharps over borders. Be this county, national or international.
When I used to work in the mobile environment in MRI & CT if a sharps bin had been used it always had to be left at the site where it was used due to this reason. If you do not have anyother option the please get a sharpsafe and carry in your hand luggage.
 
BeccyB said:
ooh I've been chucking them away like that for ages - oops!!
Click to expand...
By doing that, you are potentially putting anyone who handles the waste at risk of a sharps injury. As they won't know who the sharps had come into contact with, they would have to undergo months of follow up blood tests. Not trying to make you feel bad, but you do need to think through the effects of actions, even though the risk of a sharps injury is lower from a "Safe Clip-ped" needle.
 
Glad thsi subject came up as I also go away in the summer and will add a tupperware box to my list for the used needles
 
I saved all my sharps and took them to a pharmacy in Spain, they said no, I tried the local Health Centre and the Hospital, all said no, so I went to the Town Hall. They instructed me to place all sharps in a large empty water bottle, seal with tape and place in the normal Basura (rubbish bins collected daily) but to try to put it in last thing at night. So if it's Spain you are going to, that's the system. But otherwise I'd put them in an empty water bottle and hand them in at security.
 
Hi.get a BD Safe clip. Problem solved. Buy in pharmacy. Cost £2.64 last time I bought one
 


That's so interesting. I know here in Canada, we are absolutely not to do that. Our pharmacies here will take the sharps.
 
What you do with the bit inside the plastic cup is flatten it using the outer casing from the pen needle against the outer plastic cup, so that in the event of there being no alternative, you can put it in the bin. I defy anyone to give themselves a sharps injury from it in that condition.
 
I do that Tim2000s for my own sharps, but I was commenting on someone who put untreated sharps loose in bin. I still think it's important to place in a rigid container eg a bottle, pot or tin with a lid. Rather than puttig in normal waste bins, if you really can't take home, then placing in sanitary wste bins is safer for those who deal with waste, as those bins are emptied into incinerator, without being handled. Males can access sanitary waste bins in disabled toilets - placing items in bin will be so quick that you won't be inconveniencing people who can only use diabled loos.
 
Yes I agree, I will stop doing it!
 
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