Needles Threaten Recycling Employees

Dangerous items are showing up at recycling centers in Sioux Falls and it's not against the law.

Medical waste products, like hypodermic needles, are putting recycling center employees at risk of serious and sometimes life-threatening diseases.

The lines move quickly and employees work fast to sort more than nine tons of recycled products per hour at Millennium Recycling in Sioux Falls. Already this year, 12 employees have been stuck with hypodermic needles.

“If an employee does get poked by a hypodermic needle, they are then taken to the hospital and they are given a hepatitis vaccination and then they are tested for a whole year,” Millennium Recycling spokesperson Kim Smith said.

Smith says it's a nerve-racking year for these employees because they must be tested for HIV and other life-threatening diseases.

Millennium Recycling believes an increase in the number of home health patients is why the company is seeing more needles in the recycling bins.

There's a safer option to throwing your needles or syringes into the recycling bins by using these Sharps Disposal containers.

“What we really need is for residents to use the city’s home needle disposal program. You fill them up and dispose of them safely at no charge,” Smith said.

It is currently acceptable for people to throw away their used needles and other medical waste as long as it is in a rigid plastic container. Millennium Recycling would like to see that changed.

"A few states are moving towards banning this practice because as you can see from the materials n the table, they are not exactly puncture proof. They're not as rigid as one would think,” Smith said.

People currently using milk jugs and laundry detergent bottles to dispose of their hypodermic needles are asked to consider switching to the red Sharps Disposal containers that are available at Lewis, Hy-Vee and Walgreen pharmacies. You pick them up, drop them back off and it's completely free.