Needles and Sharps

FREE Drop-Off at HHW Facility

West Contra Costa residents may drop-off unwanted or old “sharps” (needles, syringes and lancets) for free at the West County HHW Collection Facility at 101 Pittsburg Ave., Richmond.

Additional Drop-Off Locations

Pinole Police Station: 880 Tennent Avenue, Pinole
Richmond Police Station: 1701 Regatta Blvd, Richmond
West County Wastewater District Office: 2910 Hilltop Drive, Richmond
West County Permanent HHW Collection Facility: 101 Pittsburg Avenue, Richmond
El Cerrito Recycling + Environmental Resource Center: 7501 Schmidt Lane, El Cerrito

Residents can visit the CalRecycle website to find out if the pharmaceutical manufacturer has a free sharps container available. If residents need biohazard containers, they can ask the pharmacy where they get their medications.

For further information about obtaining biohazard containers you may contact:

NOTE: Most of these companies charge a fee for the containers and are a mail-back system. We do not endorse any of these companies and do not intend this to be a complete list.

Earth 911 also has additional information.

Do Not Recap

To avoid injuring yourself from needle pricks, do not put needle caps back on needles.

Never Throw Away

Do not throw needles or sharps in the trash. They put sanitation workers, friends and family at risk of needle pricks, which can cause infection and injury.

Use Only Sharps Containers for Disposal

To dispose of needles and sharps, place them in sharps containers and bring them to a designated sharps disposal facility.

What Is Considered a Sharp?

All of the following must be disposed of as sharps waste: hypodermic needles, pen needles, intravenous needles, lancets and other devices that are used to break the skin of people and animals.

Alternative Ways to Recycle

Mail-Back Programs for Injectable Pharmaceuticals

Mail used sharps and pens back to the manufacturer of injectable pharmaceuticals. The following manufacturers accept sharps waste generated from their products: Enbrel® (Amgen), Neulasta® (Amgen), Novo Nordisk, Orencia® (Bristol-Myers) and Simponi® (Janssen Biotech, Inc.).

Stericycle® Mail Service for Home Sharps

Stericycle runs a sharps container mail-back service for small quantity generators of waste. They include bar-coded waste shipping containers, prepaid and pre-addressed shipping labels and prepaid disposal and tracking. Visit Stericycle’s Mail Back Solutions page here.

Republic Services Mail-Back Service

Republic Services offers a mail-back service for managing home-generated medical waste. Visit republicsharps.com.

MedPro Mail-Back Disposal

MedPro offers various sizes of mail-back sharps disposal systems, starting with 1.2 gallon containers. All containers are mailed to recipients via USPS with a prepaid return slip and proof of destruction manifest. Visit MedPro’s sharps disposal page here.

GRP Mail-Back Sharps Container

GRP and Associates offer a mail-back sharps disposal service. They will mail you a sharps container, which you package and mail-back to them. Visit their page on sharps mail back here.

Ways to Reduce

Return Unused Sharps to a Needle Exchange Program

Instead of dropping off unopened sharps at a disposal facility, consider taking them to a needle exchange program, such as MedShare. Find the nearest program.

Did You Know?

How Sharps Affect Sanitation Workers

Disposing of sharps isn’t always convenient. At the same time, sharps in the trash and recycling pose a huge health risk to sanitation workers. If workers come across a needle hidden in trash, they can get struck and have to wait up to a year to know if they’ve contracted a blood-borne virus, such as hepatitis, tetanus, HIV/AIDS or syphilis.

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