Needles, Syringes, medical waste and other sharps are not recyclable. These items pose a great risk to our staff and others when disposed of improperly. Medical waste is NEVER recyclable through curbside pickup or in most recycling programs due to health and safety reasons.
Buena Vista County Public Health offers sharps containers for sharps and syringes used for at home medical needs. There is a small fee to obtain the container and once full it can be dropped off at their office for disposal. For questions you can contact their office. This program is the preferred disposal method for these items.
Sharps from home use can be disposed of as regular garbage as long as it is placed in a rigid plastic container-fill 3/4 full and tape the lid on the container. The container should be a rigid plastic such as laundry soap container. Some plastic containers such as milk jugs, water bottles, etc. are too thin to offer enough stability to be safe options.