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Waste workers put in harm’s way

County urges proper disposal of sharps

Health care patients who use syringes, lancets and other sharp medical items at home should properly dispose of them, according to Taylor Leach, recycling coordinator for Waupaca County.

Leach encourages residents to separate sharps from their household trash to reduce the health risks to waste management workers,

Improperly disposed needles can expose garbage collectors and handlers to infectious diseases such as hepatitis and HIV.
Workers who receive a puncture wound from an improperly disposed needle have to undergo expansive testing and are placed under long-term emotional stress.

Recently at Waupaca County’s Processing and Transfer Facility, employees have encountered improperly disposed needles on numerous occasions. No one has been poked, but the odds are against them if this continues.

Under Wisconsin law, all infectious waste including sharp medical items, usually referred to as “sharps,” must be incinerated or otherwise treated before being disposed of in a landfill, Leach said.

“Requirements for packaging and disposing of sharps apply to everyone in Wisconsin, including people who use these items at home,” Leach said.

There are five registered sharps collection stations throughout Waupaca County:

• ThedaCare Medical Center, 800 Riverside Drive, Waupaca; 715-258-1000.

• Sweet Medicine Prescription Plus, 155 N. Main St., Iola; 715-445-3117 (customers only).

• ThedaCare Physicians, 370 S. Main St., Clintonville; 715-823-5161.

• ThedaCare Medical Center, 1405 Mill St., New London; 920-531-2000.

• Jernegan’s Health Mart Pharmacy, 1301 Mill St., New London; 920-982-7670 (customers only).

For more information on sharps disposal, contact the Waupaca County Solid Waste Department at 715-258-6240 or visit www.waupacacountyrecycling.org.

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