STATE OF MISSISSIPPI
Phil Bryant, GOVERNOR
MISSISSIPPI DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY
Trudy D. Fisher, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Robbie Wilbur
October 18, 2012 601/961-5277
MDEQ MEDICAL SHARPS PROGRAM REACHES ONE MILLION MILESTONE
(JACKSON, Miss.) –The Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality's
(MDEQ) Household Medical Sharps Collection Program has collected more than
one million household medical sharps since the beginning of the program in
2010. The program was developed by MDEQ to reduce the number of household
medical sharps being disposed of in household garbage and toilets.
Household medical sharps include such items as needles, syringes, lancets,
and other sharp objects used to penetrate the skin for medical testing or
for delivery of medication. Medical sharps disposed in household trash
present a safety hazard to sanitary workers and to the general public if
trash bags containing loose sharps are torn.
This voluntary partnership, with local establishments such as pharmacies,
fire stations, and other venues, offers the public free, local drop-off
sites. There are currently 158 drop-off collection stations in 91
communities across the state. The program has grown from 260,000 sharps
collected in 2010, to 400,000 in 2011, to a projected 480,000 by the end of
2012.
Estimates are that the number of medical sharps used in the home has
doubled in the past 10 years due to an increasing prevalence of diabetes
and an increase in the number of home pharmaceuticals delivered by
self-injection.
MDEQ encourages people to use the no-cost collection program and hopes to
further increase the number of sharps collected. To participate, medical
sharps should be sealed in a hard plastic container with a screw-on lid,
such as a used detergent bottle, and dropped off at a participating
collection site. MDEQ provides each drop-off collection station with an
18-gallon bin that is then disposed of in the same manner as sharps
generated in hospitals and other medical establishments.
The program was launched after legislation was passed by the Mississippi
Legislature in 2008, and it was then developed and implemented by MDEQ.
For more information about safe disposal of household medical sharps,
including a statewide list of drop-off collection stations, visit
www.deq.state.ms.us/medsharps.
# # #
(See attached file: medsharps.pdf)
Mr. Robbie Wilbur
Communications Director
Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality
Post Office Box 2261
Jackson, Mississippi 39225
601/961-5277
601/421-5699 (c)
601/961-5715 (f)
rwilbur@deq.state.ms.us
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