The fix – don’t re-cap your needles after use. A reusable needle then must be stored safely (in bulk) before sterilisation – a big logistical nightmare, which implies that we should go back to capping them after use. Vicious circle.

A disposable needle can by design usually allow the needle to be removed from the syringe without touching it, by pushing the needle into a v-cut in the collection bin and twisting it off of the syringe. The needle is now in the sharps container with very little plastic attached and the syringe can go into the medical waste bin for incineration.

By the way, the incineration, even in third world situations, can be easily be done without producing dioxins. Simple high efficiency oven designs can be built from readily available fire bricks. I’ve built dozens in clinics around the world. For those syringes where the needle will not separate, (by design), we simply burned them in the ovens on large cookie sheets, with only the sterile needles left afterwards which were then buried in concrete with the rest of the sharps. The metal component is so small as to not be worth recycling, even in a large facility. I suppose we could have saved up all our sterile sharps for recycling, but it would be a logistical nightmare for very little gain.

#1 risk – needle stick.

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With AIDS an issue nobody willingly re-uses a needle except diabetics and heroin addicts… and even then they prefer re-using them on themselves to someone elses.

Since the amounts of steel involved are small it doesn’t pay well to even try… melting them or heating them to white heat is sufficient but that costs somewhat in terms of power.

respectfully
BJ

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The current ones were invented for paramedics and other mobile or remote medics. Their use in hospitals began when hospitals started to get managers who had never used sterilisers and who did not believe that sterilisers could work perfectly forever without ever being serviced or tested. So they instituted quality control systems and identified a minute failure rate for sterilisers and sterilisable syringes. Minute, not zero.

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> Yeah, kahikitea, where do used syringes/needles actually go on disposal?

currently they burn them. There used to be sterilisable syringes before the current ones were invented. Maybe now someone could come up with a new improved sterilisable syringe to replace the disposable ones.

There must be some reuse/recycle options given adequate sterilisation. Or are there some bugs that sterilisation just can’t kill?

Can see that there are no options for re-use or recycling of blood or pus soaked dressings though! BTW, where do they end up?

In hospitals, they are collected in special bins and taken to a high-temperature incinerator which converts them into dioxins which it pumps into the air. If they are removed at home, they usually get put into the normal rubbish collection and get buried in landfills. There’s a parallel with the disposal of menstural sanitary pads – they have special bins with sterilising fluid for them in public toilets, but nobody bothers with a set-up like that at home. I really don’t know what precautions are necessary and what aren’t.

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Trouble is some of the 5-7 plastics from NZ recycling ends up in chinese waste to energy incineration plants as support fire, because its cheaper than coal and double the calorific value.

Toad -syringes/needles get furnaced. you cannot reuse them

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There must be some reuse/recycle options given adequate sterilisation. Or are there some bugs that sterilisation just can’t kill?

Can see that there are no options for re-use or recycling of blood or pus soaked dressings though! BTW, where do they end up?

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> As Metiria put it

> Reduce, Reuse then Recycle – (Rubbish doesn’t come into it)

Works with a lot of things, but in practice I find it difficult to reduce, re-use or recycle medical waste.

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Most amusing!

Seriously Rodney. Get with the programme man.

As Metiria put it

Reduce, Reuse then Recycle – (Rubbish doesn’t come into it)

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As I suspected, the mini bin is a truly pointless, symbolic exercise…

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You should keep to just presenting your argument, and resist making a total fool out of yourself by trying to profile someone from one comment they post on a blog.

>>I see you are one of those who like to ensure no progress is made unless EVERYONE has a veto, are you by any chance a pubic servant?

No. And no.

>>Shame on you for not being prepared to try something new

You have no idea how prepared I am to try new things.

You are so wrong. Shame on you for making such assumptions.

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The bins look very small. Is that the issue? As for sorting kitchen waste, that can be time consuming over the long run (which costs taxpayer money), and has little real benefit.

Not that being wasteful is a good idea, just wondering if it’s more to do with the process itself.

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I see you are one of those who like to ensure no progress is made unless EVERYONE has a veto, are you by any chance a pubic servant? This attitude is precisely the reason why nEW zeALAND is becoming a land of and for the mediocre – the ‘common denominator’ must always rule, and great ideas are put in the bin by NIHilists.

Shame on you, and shame on Rodney and co for not being prepared to try something new, and shame on those who ‘implemented’ the new system for not adequately communicating the reasoning behind it and its practical application.

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