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Sharps disposal and container exchange program
Garbage and recycling › Guide to hazardous waste › Sharps disposal
Metro's sharps container exchange program protects workers from the potential of being stuck by loose and exposed needles and helps provide convenient and affordable disposal services to the public.
Metro's sharps container exchange program protects workers from the potential of being stuck by loose and exposed needles and helps provide convenient and affordable disposal services to the public.
What are sharps?
Sharps include needles, IV tubing with needles attached, scalpel blades, lancets, glass tubes and slides, and syringes. According to state law, approved sharps container are rigid, leak-proof, puncture resistant, sealed and clearly marked with the bio-hazard symbol.
Who can participate?
This is a program for household residents in the metropolitan region. (Residential care facilities, group homes and other commercial generators of sharps should contact a medical waste management company.) You can bring sharps in approved sharps containers to Metro's hazardous waste facilities. Metro will dispose of your sharps free of charge, and give you a new container.
How does the program work?
- Come to a Metro hazardous waste facility or call Metro Recycling Information at 503-234-3000 to request an approved one-gallon or one-quart sharps container. There is a one-time $5 fee for the container and to participate in the program. (You also can purchase approved containers at many local pharmacies and medical supply stores. When you bring the container to Metro for disposal, you can pay the $5 fee to receive a new container and become a participant in the program.)
- Each time you bring in a full sharps container to the hazardous waste facility for disposal, you will receive a new container.
- You can dispose of up to 5 gallons of sharps at one time. Larger volumes require prior arrangements.
Where can I take sharps?
You can bring a full sharps container back to one of Metro's household hazardous waste facilities and receive a new container. You can also bring a sharps container to a community collection event or to a Metro transfer station when the household hazardous waste facilities are closed. You will not, however, receive a new container.
For safety reasons, sharps that are not in approved sharps containers cannot be accepted at Metro transfer stations. Metro operates two hazardous waste facilities that accept properly contained sharps. If you bring loose sharps to a hazardous waste facility, Metro staff will ask that you transfer those sharps into an approved container available from the hazardous waste facility.
Other sharps disposal options
Some garbage haulers in the region may collect sharps from their residential customers for a fee. Contact your hauler to find out if they provide this service...Find your hauler
Allied Waste Bio-Med of Oregon will deliver or pick up sharps containers to households and businesses that are located in Clackamas and Washington counties but not in Multnomah County...More
Stericycle will collect sharps from households in Multnomah County and also has a mail-in service...More
You might also ask your local pharmacy if they accept full sharps containers for safe disposal.
Need assistance?
Related Internet links
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Oregon DEQ infectious waste disposal laws
(http://www.deq.state.or.us/lq/sw/infectiouswaste/index.htm)
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Safe sharps disposal information
(http://www.safeneedledisposal.org)
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Waste Management's mail-in sharps disposal program
(http://www.wastemd.com/)
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Stericycle's mail back program for residential sharps users
(http://www.stericycle.com/consumer_needle_disposal.html)