Needles Are a No No

Frightening quantities of medical sharps (needles and syringes) continue to be found in recyclables picked up through curbside collection in Arcata and Eureka. Not only are these items banned from disposal in the trash or recycling, they are also a hazard for our community members who haul and process these materials.

At ACRC's Somoa Processing Facility strict handling procedures are in place to protect employees who sort recyclables. When a hazard, such as a medical sharp, is spotted materials traveling on multiple conveyor belts through the sort lines screech to a halt. The hazardous item is safely removed and processing continues. There are two problems with this situations:

1) To work this procedure requires that an employee visually locates the needle to stop the sort line. The phrase "needle in a haystack" comes to mind here. Amazingly most needles are spotted -- but not all. This hidden hazard can understandably be anxiety inducing for sort line staff.

And 2) Each instance when the sort line stops adds to the amount of time needed to process a ton of recyclables. At times the sort line could be stopped for up to 20% of the work day to handle hazards. This inefficiency directly increases the cost of processing recyclables. A cost that is ultimately passed on to rate payers in our community.

So how does one properly dispose of medical sharps? There are several collection locations throughout Humboldt County. Just be sure to collect your sharps in a designated container available at your pharmacy.