Travel & Needle Disposal
I’m sure there are a few of you on here who travel for business. How do you go
about disposal of your pen needles and lancets while on the road? Some hotels I
stay in offer medical waste disposal but many look at you funny if you show up
with used needles at their front desk. I don’t like the idea of just tossing
them in the trash because I wouldn’t want to jeopardize the staff’s safety. I
phlebotomist told me last week that she has a small sandwich-sized sharps
container she ordered from the BD Diabetes magazine. I went to their website
and couldn’t find anything smaller than the home sharps container I already have
but I wouldn’t want to travel with something that bulky. Any suggestions?
October 8th, 2006 at 12:39 am
Hello Michael, I put both caps on my Byetta needles after use.
When I change lancets…about once a month I must confess, I stick the
tip of the used one into the little bubble taken off the new one.
I put all in a sandwich baggy and put that week’s baggy into double
grocery bags,tie and throw into the trash.
Aloha, Marge
October 8th, 2006 at 4:55 am
On 4/4/07, Michael wrote:
<< Any suggestions? >>
What I do at work and home is recap my needles and put back in the
outer plastic casing and put the bubble back on my lancets. I drop
these in an empty water bottle and put in my regular trash at home and
work - and that is what I did last week at the hotel in Seattle. I
October 9th, 2006 at 11:43 pm
I’m sure there are a few of you on here who travel for business. How do you go
about disposal of your pen needles and lancets while on the road? Some hotels I
stay in offer medical waste disposal but many look at you funny if you show up
with used needles at their front desk. I don’t like the idea of just tossing
them in the trash because I wouldn’t want to jeopardize the staff’s safety. I
phlebotomist told me last week that she has a small sandwich-sized sharps
container she ordered from the BD Diabetes magazine. I went to their website and
couldn’t find anything smaller than the home sharps container I already have but
I wouldn’t want to travel with something that bulky. Any suggestions?
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
October 10th, 2006 at 4:01 am
Hello Michael, I put both caps on my Byetta needles after use.
When I change lancets…about once a month I must confess, I stick the
tip of the used one into the little bubble taken off the new one.
I put all in a sandwich baggy and put that week’s baggy into double
grocery bags,tie and throw into the trash.
Aloha, Marge
October 11th, 2006 at 4:03 am
I go to the dollar store and buy one of those hard plastic soap containers
for traveling. I put mine in that until i get home and then just dump them
into my "jug". Any little hard plastic container would work.
Demetria-Beth
_____
I’m sure there are a few of you on here who travel for business. How do you
go about disposal of your pen needles and lancets while on the road? Some
hotels I stay in offer medical waste disposal but many look at you funny if
you show up with used needles at their front desk. I don’t like the idea of
just tossing them in the trash because I wouldn’t want to jeopardize the
staff’s safety. I phlebotomist told me last week that she has a small
sandwich-sized sharps container she ordered from the BD Diabetes magazine. I
went to their website and couldn’t find anything smaller than the home
sharps container I already have but I wouldn’t want to travel with something
that bulky. Any suggestions?
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
October 11th, 2006 at 2:36 pm
On 4/4/07, Pam wrote:
<< What do people do who fly? Certainly you can’t get on a plane with used
sharps can you? >>
I flew to Seattle a few weeks ago with my diabetic supplies and had no
problem at all. In flight when I had to give myself an injection before I
ate, I just recapped the pen needle and put the outer plastic thing over it
and kept it with my byetta pen. I took care of the disposal when I got to
my destination.
October 12th, 2006 at 1:32 pm
Buy a small bottle of water (but don’t bring it to the airport ). Drink the
water and then use it for a sharps container. It would cost less than $1. Heck,
the hotels probably offer a small bottle that you could have.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
October 12th, 2006 at 11:44 pm
Depending on how long you were going to be gone, I have used an empty
strips container for used strips and lancets at work. Of course, you
would have to use something larger for the Byetta needles if you were
gone more than a couple of days but my strips container will hold a
couple of used needles.
I agree with Demetria about getting a cheap travel container or small
water bottle and just dump when you get home.
Elaine (TN)
> I’m sure there are a few of you on here who travel for business. How
do you
> go about disposal of your pen needles and lancets while on the road?
Some
> hotels I stay in offer medical waste disposal but many look at you
funny if
October 13th, 2006 at 9:50 pm
great idea! that should be stronger plastic than a water bottle
and most of them snap shut. think I’ll get one before I fly to
Juneau tomorrow.
–Michael
> I go to the dollar store and buy one of those hard plastic soap
> containers for traveling.
October 14th, 2006 at 9:33 am
I finally changed my lancet, last night. Its been a long time since Ive done
that, Im embarrassed to say. Ev
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October 14th, 2006 at 2:39 pm
Most drugstore pharmacies have small sharps containers that will fit in
a briefcase or purse (providing the purse isnt a tiny clutch*G*) I have
a little gizmo that clips the needle off the syringe or pen so they can
be put in the trash. I only worry about the sharp part of the pen that
pokes the pen. The gizmo costs about 5 dollars and holds like a thousand
needles. I got mine from www.hocks.com they probably carry them in
bigger pharmacies too.
October 16th, 2006 at 6:37 pm
Thanks for the link, Ruby. I’m pretty sure the 1qt sharps container on that
site is the same one the phlebotomist told me about.
October 17th, 2006 at 4:53 am
Love the bottle idea for traveling.
October 17th, 2006 at 9:55 pm
In the past I’ve used the container my testing strips come in (I have
an accucheck, so they come in a drum), but now that I’m on Byetta, the
pen needles won’t fit. So I have this same question. I would really
like to get one of those sandwich sized containers, or something like
it. I hope someone has an answer.
Sarah in TX