Household Infectious Waste

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ND Solid Waste And Recycling Association

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Household Infectious Waste

Household waste containing regulated infectious waste in amounts normally found in household waste may be disposed of at a permitted municipal waste landfill. Home healthcare waste (bloodied bandages, IV bags, etc.) should be double bagged and placed in your garbage.

Sharps Disposal

Improper disposal of needles, lancets and other sharps can pose a health risk to the public and waste workers. For example, discarded needles may expose waste workers to potential needle stick injuries and potential infection when containers break open or needles are mistakenly sent to recycling facilities.

Options for the proper disposal of sharps in North Dakota:

Collection programs

You can check with your local hospital, clinic or pharmacy to see if they have a program to take back your full sharps containers. Not all hospitals, clinics or pharmacies in North Dakota offer this service.

Sharps mail-back programs

You can contact a company to enter their program. You then place your used sharps in special containers provided by the company and return the container by mail to them for proper disposal. This service usually requires a fee. Fees vary, depending on the size of the container. Listed below are examples of companies offering these services:

Home Needle Destruction Devices

Several manufacturers offer products that allow you to destroy used needles at home. These devices sever, burn, or melt the needle rendering it safe for disposal in the trash. The prices of these devices vary according to product type and manufacturer. Check with your pharmacist or search the internet using keywords "sharps disposal devices."

Trash Disposal

The last and least preferred option is to place a filled sharps container in the trash. Needles and syringes should be placed in heavy plastic containers (for example, laundry detergent containers) not 2-liter soda pop bottles. You can also check with your pharmacy to see if it sells commercial containers specially designed to hold sharps for disposal in your household trash. The container should be labeled "Sharps". When full the container should be taped shut and placed in your garbage. Do not recycle the full plastic container.
Medication Disposal

Pills In Containers

Household wastes also contain medications that, in the past, have been disposed of by flushing them down the toilet. In response to increasing concentrations of pharmaceuticals, hormones and other organic wastewater contaminates found in the rivers and streams across the nation, various agencies (the Office of National Drug Control policy, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Environmental Protection Agency, Fish & Wildlife Service and the American Pharmacists Association and this Department) no longer encourage this practice.

Under a new law in North Dakota, consumers can return their unused prescription drugs to pharmacists or clinics so they can be given to someone else who can use them. A drug donated under the program must be in the original, unopened package, except drugs packaged in single-unit doses or punch cards, which may be accepted and dispensed if the outside packaging has been opened but the single-unit dose package is unopened. A nominal fee may be charged. Check with your local pharmacist to see if they are participating in this program.

If you have medications that cannot be returned, we now recommend they be disposed of in the trash. Here are the disposal methods for unused medications:

1. Do not flush most medications*

2. Remove the label or scratch your name off the label

3. Make the drugs unusable or undesirable by:

- If liquid, mix with coffee grounds, kitty litter, salt, flour or charcoal
- If solid, add a small amount of water or vinegar to partially dissolve them

4. Place the unusable medication in a leak-proof, non-descript container (empty coffee can, detergent bottle, or sealable bag) and tape shut.

5. Place in the garbage.

6. If the medications are in a blister pack, wrap the blister packages together in multiple layers of duct tape or other tape, then place in the garbage.

* The Food And Drug Administration advises that the following drugs be flushed down the toilet instead of thrown in the trash:

Actiq (fentanyl citrate)
Daytrana Transdermal Patch (methylphenidate)
Duragesic Transdermal System (fentanyl)
OxyContin Tablets (oxycodone)
Avinza Capsules (morphine sulfate)
Baraclude Tablets (entecavir)
Reyataz Capsules (atazanavir sulfate)
Tequin Tablets (gatifloxacin)
Zerit for Oral Solution (stavudine)
Meperidine HCl Tablets
Percocet (Oxycodone and Acetaminophen)
Xyrem (Sodium Oxybate)
Fentora (fentanyl buccal tablet)

Listed below are links to various sites regarding proper medication disposal:

American Pharmacists Association - Provides Guidance On Proper Medication Disposal

Office Of National Drug Control Policy - Proper Disposal Of Prescription Drugs

US Fish and Wildlife Service - Improper Disposal Of Unused Medication Sparks Creation Of New Awareness Program

Minnesota Pollution Control Agency - Pharmaceutical Waste: Disposing of Unwanted Medications

If you have further questions contact, be e-mail Christine Roob or telephone 701.476.4121.

Division of Waste Management Home Page

Updated: 2 Dec. 2008

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