Case Studies

The Challenge

The practice of veterinary medicine presents several challenges when dealing with medical waste. Not only does the vet have his or her own waste to manage, it’s important to help animal owners understand their responsibilities with regard to disposal of syringes generated at the home or business.

The American Pet Product Manufacturer’s Association’s 2011-2012 National Pet Owners Survey shows that Americans own approximately 78 million dogs, 86 million cats and 8 million equine. Included in this number are animals needing injections of medications provided in the home ranging from antibiotics to vitamins to insulin. Diabetes mellitus which strikes 1 in 400 of these pets. Even if only ¼ of those diabetic pets received the necessary 2 injections per day, we are looking at 74 million needles generated each year. Unfortunately, most end up in our landfills. In addition, farmers raise some 33 million beef cattle each year. Multiply even a fraction of that figure by the number of injections needed by those animals, and you can start to visualize the staggering volume of needles potentially discarded into the environment.

One vet hospital providing services to both small and large animal populations recognized the need for proper disposal within the facility, by pet owners in the home, and on the farms and ranches where practitioners attended to individual animals and herds. Pet owners were consistently asking how to dispose of their pets’ syringes. The community household hazardous waste facility did not take syringes and owners didn’t want to spend extra time looking for disposal options, and therefore most often placed them into the trash.

In addition to the concern for the environment and proper disposal in and outside the clinic, management was concerned over ever-increasing costs for the pickup service they were using. In addition to fuel charges, stop fees and other extra costs, the hospital did not want to be locked into a long-term contract.

The staff was also confused about state disposal regulations surrounding veterinary waste, farm waste, and home-generated pet sharps waste. Some states, including California, Massachusetts, Wisconsin, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and others, have current regulations, or have recently enacted laws making it illegal to dispose of hypodermic needles in the trash – including those used on pets. Even in states that do not have official laws prohibiting non-healthcare generated needles from being placed into the trash, 23 states regulate needles from commercial farms. Even if needles are placed into plastic containers, those containers often break open upon garbage compaction. They end up on the ground, on the floor at waste transfer stations, and on sorting lines in recycling centers resulting in worker needlesticks. A sanitation worker who receives a needlestick can’t tell if a syringe was used on a farm animal, a diabetic cat, or an HIV-positive human. For this reason, he or she still must go through months of anguish and expensive testing and treatment that can run as high as $5,000. This is why state laws regulating the disposal of needles used outside of healthcare include all needles, used on both humans and animals. In addition, the practitioners were unaware of other regulations, such U.S. Department of Transportation rules covering the carrying of sharps containers in vehicles to and from the point of use.

In addition to regulatory concerns, the clinic was concerned about employee safety. Improperly discarded syringes, or syringes improperly contained for later disposal can result in needlesticks injuries (from Agricultural Medicine, by Donham and Thelin, 2006) including infection from a needle contaminated with skin organisms or fecal organisms; or infection or inflammation from the product injected. A needlestick could also illicit a hyperimmune response due to the product injected.

The Solution

Sharps was able to help the clinic turn the challenges they faced into opportunities. They were able to do away completely with the pickup service by implementing the 18-Gallon Sharps Recovery System in the clinic. They purchased the systems on an as-needed basis from their regular distributor and no contracts were required. Once the containers are full, they simply package them in the prepaid shipping boxes and ship them to Sharps Compliance treatment facility. They are not only properly treated through clean autoclave technology; they are recycled into PELLA-DRX for use in the cement and other energy-intensive industries.

For the equine and other large animal practitioners, the 3-Gallon Sharps Recovery System was the best option. These systems have handles for easy and safe carrying to the point of use. They also can be safely and legally transported; and when full, they are either brought back to the clinic for disposal or simply packaged and dropped off at any US Post Office.

The Results

With the Sharps Recovery System, the clinic reduced its medical waste disposal cost by 50% when compared to their traditional pick-up service. Large animal care outside of the clinic became easy and safe for practitioners who particularly liked being able to safely pick up and carry the container right to the point of need.

"It’s great to be able to comply with regulations, help our owners with safe disposal of their pet needles, protect our employees and the environment, and still save money!"