posted 10/24/02
The combined efforts of Waste Management and BD will make sharps disposal readily available to everyone who needs it."
Sharps Compliance Corp. is joining two other companies, Waste
Management Inc. and Becton Dickinson & Co. to offer in November the nation's 8
million in-home syringe users a safe mail back method for disposing of used
needles and syringes to help reduce the risks of injury and infection posed by
improper disposal of used needles and syringes outside health care settings.
Houston-based Waste Management is the largest
U.S. waste company. Becton Dickinson is the world's largest syringe
manufacturer.
According to Sharps, more than 3 billion
injections and other skin punctures occur in the home every year in the course
of treating conditions such as diabetes, hepatitis, multiple sclerosis and
allergies.
Only a fraction of these needles and syringes are
disposed of properly because there has been no practical method to safely
dispose of them. In the solid waste stream, these needles pose a risk for needle
stick injury or infection to children, waste workers and entire communities.
The Sharps Disposal By Mail System allows used
needles and syringes to be disposed in a puncture- and leak-resistant container,
reducing the risk of injury and infection to the community from needle sticks.
Waste Management is partnering with Sharps to
market the mail-back disposal system to Waste Management's 25 million
residential and 2 million commercial customers in the United States.
"We want to bring added value to our customers
and this product is an excellent fit for us. It provides a cost-effective means
of removing needles and syringes from the residential waste stream in order to
protect communities and our curbside workers," said A. Maurice Myers, Waste
Management's president and CEO.
BD will make the Sharps Disposal-By-Mail System
available nationally through more than 55,000 pharmacies and promote safe sharps
disposal through a national educational campaign.
"This program is one of the model solutions to
the problem of improperly disposed needles in the community," said Robert J.
Singley, vice president of sales and marketing at BD Consumer Health Care. "The
combined efforts of Waste Management and BD will make sharps disposal readily
available to everyone who needs it."
Source: Diabetes In Control Dot Com.
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