Please note: this is an archived news article release

This article was published on Monday, 21 May, 2018. The information contained within may be out of date or inaccurate. News articles and media releases older than 60 days are archived for future reference.

Dispose of your needles correctly

Posted on Monday 21st of May, 2018,

Greater Shepparton City Council reminds residents to ensure they correctly dispose of needles through the sharps program.

The sharps program is a free sharps disposal service run by Council that allows those with diabetic and medical needs to safely dispose of needles in approved containers and deliver to Council’s reception.  All returned sharps containers are replaced with a new empty sharps container.

Residents are reminded that they must only dispose of needles using a sharps program disposal service and must never dispose of needles via the kerbside service bins.

Greater Shepparton City Council Director Infrastructure Phil Hoare advises disposing of needles in kerbside bins is not acceptable and poses major risks to residents and workers by potentially spreading blood-borne diseases. Residents are reminded that much of our rubbish is sorted by hand and disposing of needles in kerbside bins puts those workers and others at risk.

“You, your family members, neighbours and the contractor sorting the waste by hand are all at risk of needle-stick injury or being infected when handling contents of the bin.

“Council reserves the right to refuse to collect household kerbside bins if found to contain needles. Sharps disposal bins are also installed in public toilets across the municipality,” said Mr Hoare.

There are several alternative needle and syringe programs operating across Greater Shepparton. These programs provide a community service to reduce the risk associated with intravenous drug use by dispensing clean needles and syringes, safe disposable containers at no charge. To locate your nearest needle and syringe program outlet, click here.

For more information on what can and can’t go in kerbside bins, click here.

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