Any needle syringe needs to be collected in an impervious container and disposed as biohazardous waste, no exceptions.  In Illinois, non-needle syringes can be disposed in the regular trash but a facility must think long and hard about how their regular trash is collected and stored before pickup (i.e. is it secure?).  And, is your municipal trash collector going to freak when they see all these syringes in the trash and maybe reject the load?  In my facility, I require that all syringes, needle or not, be collected as biowaste.  A facility where I managed waste in the past generated literally tons of non-needle syringes from clinical studies.  We collected these in fiber drums and paid to have them disposed as non-hazardous waste thru our haz waste vendor which was cheaper than going thru the biowaste vendor.  This way, I had control of the syringes.  It’s state to state on the status of non-needle syringes and a good point to start would be with your biohazardous waste vendor.  Considering the reasons why we have biowaste laws (remembering all the medical waste on the beaches of New Jersey), I think it’s better to take the safe route and collect anything syringe-like as biowaste.  Also, used scalpels and razors are also Potentially Infectious Medical Waste (PIMW) and  must be collected in impervious containers in the same way as needle syringes.

Rachel E. Harrington, MPH, CHMM

Director - Office of Environmental, Health, and Safety

Rosalind Franklin University< b> of Medicine and Science

3333 Green Bay Road

North Chicago, IL  60064

W  847-578-3420

M  224-622-4244