‘Sharps’ plan gets approved

Laguna won’t be stuck with an untried program when a state ban goes into effect that will prohibit dumping medical “sharps” into household waste.

The City Council voted unanimously at the Oct. 4 meeting to immediately implement two systems for the disposal of sharps that are physician prescribed and dispensed by accredited pharmacies. Implementation is expected to begin by late November, according to Public Works Director Steve May.

“That will give residents and the city the opportunity to evaluate the two programs and adjust to them before the ban goes into effect in 2008,” City Manager Ken Frank said. “We may use both.”

City staff estimated that more than 260,000 sharps are used annually in Laguna Beach, including hypodermic needles, syringes, scalpels, razor blades, blood vials, lancets and microscopic slides.

“When I was first diagnosed about 18 months ago with diabetes, I used about six or eight needles a day, but now I only have to test when I have symptoms,” Planning Commissioner Anne Johnson said.

She disposes of the needles as she was instructed when she was first diagnosed.

“I use needles that are about three-quarters of an inch long, after which I cap them and put them into a bottle,” Johnson said. “When the bottle is full, I duct tape the top onto the bottle, wrapping it twice and toss it into the trash.”

That will not be allowed under the ban, May said.

“It would be a violation of the state Health and Safety Code and subject to legal recourse,” May said.

The two programs approved by the council were proposed by companies with which the city already does business: Waste Management, the city’s contracted trash hauler, and Curbside Inc., which provides year-round, door-to-door residential collection of household hazardous waste.

Frank showed the council a Sharps Disposal by Mail System kit developed by Waste Management, partnered with Sharps Disposal. The kit included a 1.4-quart container for the storage of used needles and a government-approved sharps mail-back box.

The pre-paid mail box is sent to a designated treatment facility via the U.S. Postal Service. The facility documents the receipt, weight and destruction of the each container and contents, information available to the city.

“They better make it cheap,” Johnson said. “People are tired of the medical system piling on one charge after another.”

Residents will get the first container free, subsequent containers will cost $5 each, May said. The cost to the city is $21.16 for the first container provided to the resident and $16.16 for the rest.

Most residents probably will need no more than three containers a year, May said.

Local pharmacies will serve as providers or distributors of the containers. Six pharmacies have been identified as potential providers. Pharmacies will bill for reimbursement through an independent administrator, similar to the prescription drug plans.

Curbside Inc. offered three approaches: a mail-back container, door-to-door collection and sharps/medicine round-ups.

Containers are available on request, mailed directly to the resident, at a cost of $44. When the container is full, it is returned in the box in which it arrived, with pre-paid postage and already addressed. Door-to-door pick-ups will cost the city an additional $12 to the current $110 per stop. Medical and sharps roundups cost $1,200 for four hours in one location and apply only to residential disposal.

The programs are expected to cost the city less than $10,000 for the first year, but are likely to exceed that in subsequent years as the program develops, which may require an amendment to the contracts with Waste Management and Curbside Inc. Any contract alterations will be included in next year’s budget.

Residents will be advised of the programs by a mailing in December.

For more information about the programs, call Waste Management at (949) 642-1191, Curbside Inc. at (800) 449- 7587 or city Administrative Analyst Liz Vasquez-Avila at (949) 497-0344.