A random question, but what are we doing with used blades from scalpels, craft knives, etc? When I worked for a living the various art departments used a lot of these and there were always several 'sharps' disposal boxes around (although I've no idea what happened when they filled up).
I'm comfortable re-sharpening the bigger blades from Swann-Morton knives, but don't really know what to do with those slivers of snap-off craft blades. Throwing them in the wastebin isn't good, and sandwiching them between layers of thick card wrapped in masking tape doesn't seem much better.
So what do you do?
try a word with your local surgery, they may be willing to let you have a sharps bin, and they last years
Quote from: PeteW on September 20, 2019, 02:18:58 PMand sandwiching them between layers of thick card wrapped in masking tape
I do this, and leave them in the refuse collection area outside my house every second Friday in the month with a note that it contains sharp metal, and the refuse truck which picks up everything which is non-burnable or non-recyclable takes them away (though where they end up is a complete mystery).
However you'll have to move to Japan to take advantage of this.
If you do dispose of them in a waste bin do not disguise or hide them. Loose they will be machine handled and magnetically sorted where as inside tape or cardboard they are likely to be human handled and that is dangerous. Similarly do not put in a recycle bin that may be hand sorted.
A sharps bin is ideal.
Went to my local household waste recycling centre a month or so back, with a whole selection of 'sharps', including old hacksaw blades, Stanley Knife blades, scalpel blades, bent and headless pins, and even a rotary saw blade past it's best.
Asked one of the guys in the hi-vis jackets working there if they had a special disposal point for. He said: "Yeah, I'll take 'em for ya."
He then threw the whole lot into the 'Metals' skip. Not quite what I had in mind, so I hope nobody gets to sort that skip by hand. :worried:
every now and then i spot a poster which says one can drop your unwanted knives here
I took my collection of unwanted modelling knives / disposable blades to my local police station and handed them over in a container, opened the lid and explained this. The Officer kindly added them to a collection members of the public were handing over and came back with my empty secure box which i use for taking tins, paper etc to he recycling point. just a thought
you have a police station that is OPEN :o
only certain times and the notice says collection at certain times
public invited to drop off unwanted items at this day, this hour
and tells us what is required of us, cannot remember exact words
sounds like here, open a couple of hours a day, a couple of days a week IIRC.
otherwise a phone in a yellow box, if you can get an answer.
but like the non emergency number, loads of messages from various idiots about how dedicated they are to mprovide a superb service, but it doesn't seem to extend to having enough people to answer the phones ...
select option 1 for murder, option 2 for burglary, option 3 for rape etc. :censored:
Around here most of the public toilets have disposal slots for sharps.
well .... thats my suggestion to help pete w - as have others contributed with theirs
Here is Colorado. my Dialysis Nurse said that it was OK to dispose of used (non contaminated) needles by dropping them in a plastic milk bottle, putting the top back on when full, and leaving in the bin.
Whether or not that would be OK in the UK I have no idea.
Regards,
John P
Metal blades go with the rest of my metal household waste, into the recycling bin. The only prep I do is to ensure they are clean, as per the local authorities instructions. If they can't be cleaned, they go in the landfill bin.
In over two decades of doing this, I'm not aware of any incidents of lacerated waste technicians at the local dump.
I remove the sharp edges with a grinding stone in my mini-drill, then put them in the metal recycling.
(Un)luckily, as my wife has Rheumatoid Arthritis, she has weekly injections, so we do have a sharps bin. I have never worried too much in the past though, as the bins could have broken items with sharp edges, broken glass and all-sorts, so council workers should already be handling the contents with full protection.
Most of my scalpel blades end up broken during use, they broken bit then often ends up embedded in my foot :censored:
Thanks for the thoughts everyone. Police station here closed a couple of years ago - still manned but not open to the public. Not sure if we have public toilets locally - I've lived here for 30 years and don't remember seeing any. Moving to Japan not an option. Getting sharps containers is easy (loads on Amazon) but from what I've read they're difficult or impossible to get rid of once full.
The points about other hazards in the recycling box (broken glass, other blades) are well-taken and sensible so I guess I'll go that route. Simple is good, I guess.
I bought my last supply of Swann Morton blades from Amazon. I also bought a sharps box for my used blades at the same time.
Chris
Sharps bins are intended for use in managing the risk of biological contamination, especially in clinical practices. The risk is not that a person might get a cut on their pinky, but that they might get a cut on their pinky from a sharp contaminated with Ebola*! The risks of getting a cut pinky from a sharp contaminated with polystyrene plastics are not yet fully understood, but it's probably bad for the Oceans. :D
* Other biological hazards are available.
Quote from: RailGooner on September 20, 2019, 11:57:28 PM
Sharps bins are intended for use in managing the risk of biological contamination, especially in clinical practices. The risk is not that a person might get a cut on their pinky, but that they might get a cut on their pinky from a sharp contaminated with Ebola*! The risks of getting a cut pinky from a sharp contaminated with polystyrene plastics are not yet fully understood, but it's probably bad for the Oceans. :D
* Other biological hazards are available.
Hepatitis B, C
HIV
Although rare, there's also a small risk of other infections being transmitted through contaminated blood, such as cytomegalovirus (CMV) and Epstein-Barr virus (EBV).
I think we can be overcautious in our attempts to protect others. The more we collect, temporarily store, blunt and wrap our old blades the more likely we are to cut ourselves. Direct disposal in household waste will not be a problem because, as others have said, sorting operatives will have the correct protective clothing.
I just went to my local Chemists (Pharmacy) and asked for a sharps bin. Had to sign for it, but when it's full, I can take it back and get another. I'm guessing that will be quite some time 'cos I reckon it has a capacity of of about 2 litres.
That's all well and good Trev, if you're using sharps bins for the intended purpose - managing the risk of biological contamination. If not, it's just unnecessary expense heaped upon the NHS.
Definitely over thinking things here! Lots of 'innocent' waste is sharp, recycled or otherwise. Totally agree with Rail Gooner and swisstrains that unless you're in the habit of smearing blood on your blades (more than the odd accidental incident!) then 'ordinary' disposal will be fine.
And if any one gets a cut from a blade in the general rubbish, the cost of multiple blood tests would ( £50) far outweigh one sharps bin + incineration ( with a 1000 others)
Then by extension we should put cans and glass in sharps bins too.
Quote from: njee20 on September 24, 2019, 05:25:34 PM
Then by extension we should put cans and glass in sharps bins too.
Yes, but the bin man expects tins and glass, not tiny shards of sharpened steel.
I tend to put all sharps in an old vitamin pot, when it's got a decent amount in it goes in the general waste taped shut with 'SHARPS' written all over it.
He's not sticking his hand in for a good rummage around. Whether a sliver of metal off a can lid cuts him or a used blade is pretty immaterial.
I'm not suggesting reckless disposal, but waste is pretty unpleasant in all sort of ways. I'm not sure making the NHS dispose of your blades is necessary.
Bin men have long since stopped handling rubbish, it gets put in a wheely bins by you, the wheely bins gets rolled to the lorry and loaded by machine. The lorry goes to the tip and dumps it where it is bulldozed in. Rubbish is dumped not sorted.
The recycling bin is carried the same way but taken to the recycling centre and a JCB type machine loads stuff into a hopper.
Only the recycling bin is sorted.
Recycling is sorted on a converter belt, the operatives wear chain mail gloves , magnets pull off the steel stuff.
I too feel that this is a bit of overkill. People (including myself) have been opening cans of baked beans and the like for years and just throwing them in the bin.
You can just as easily cut yourself on one of those!
In my community, we take our refuse to a recycling center where all glass, metal, and plastic is deposited into the same container and compacted. I put my old blades into a plastic milk jug before my weekly trip to the transfer (recycling) center. As others have said, the handling of refuse presumes the inherent risk and procedures are in place to avoid serious injury. In my case, the greatest risk occurs between removing the blades and depositing them into a plastic container.
Leon
Quote from: njee20 on September 24, 2019, 05:15:55 PM
Definitely over thinking things here!
...
Agreed.
At home, I've been fortunate enough never to have cut myself with hobby knives, scalpel blades, histology blades, needles, etc. that I use in my modelling. I have cut myself on bean cans, broken bottles, broken light bulbs, etc. and the debris has always gone into the recycling or landfill bin as appropriate. And if I knew myself to be suffering from a contagious infection at the time, then the landfill bin would be the appropriate route for that contaminated debris.
At (my recently ex)work, we
misused histology blades in the office for opening letters, opening parcels, cutting paper, cutting anything, though fortunately never myself. When I started, used blades were discarded into the waste bin or worse just left lying around. I introduced the strict use of a sharps bin. I did so, because in laboratories in the same building histology blades and other clinical/surgical sharps were being used and contaminated with biological material. Having a casual protocol for the disposal of histology blades in our team, would increase the risk that a member of our team would cause/be victim of, a contamination incident. So better to have the one strict protocol.
So
please, unless you're dissecting monkey brains with your modelling sharps (which I'm not really sure you should be doing! :doh:) just throw the damn things in the bin, ideally wash them before putting in the recycling bin.
This has been a public service announcement from the ministry of pragmatism. :P
Quote from: Leon on September 24, 2019, 09:57:09 PM
In my community, we take our refuse to a recycling center where all glass, metal, and plastic is deposited into the same container and compacted. I put my old blades into a plastic milk jug before my weekly trip to the transfer (recycling) center. As others have said, the handling of refuse presumes the inherent risk and procedures are in place to avoid serious injury. In my case, the greatest risk occurs between removing the blades and depositing them into a plastic container.
In the UK at least, mixing materials like that renders both the milk jug and the blades unrecyclable.
Yeah, same here. Recycle bin only for glass, plastic and cardboard.
I use a sharps box that got from the old business I worked for, lasts for years. Dispose of it at the local tip.
Cheers, Timmo