I have been living in Australia for five months now (time flies!). In diabetes terms, that’s 53 insulin pump site changes, and 16 Dexcom’s.
This also means I have accumulated waste from 53 insulin pump site changes, which is quite a lot.
At the very beginning, I purchased a yellow sharps container from a pharmacy. While this cost me $10, they told me that once I had NDSS, the containers would be free.
Fast forward a few months down the line, with my NDSS card in hand, I happily strolled into a pharmacy to ask for one of these free containers, only to be told that I needed to pay $10 again. Not to be deterred, I continued my hunt for free sharps containers, but at the 4th pharmacy, I caved, and paid the $10. I needed the sharps box more than I wanted to wander the streets from pharmacy to pharmacy.
Considering the sharps boxes weren’t very big, they filled up pretty quickly.
Which led me to my next mission – what do I do with these full containers?
One pharmacist told me to bring them to the “City Hall” of Melbourne (interesting).
I asked the question in an Australian group chat, with mixed responses and advice from people in other Australian states, alongside the tempting option to just throw it all in the regular bin and call it a day (don’t worry – I haven’t done this!!).
In a fit of desperation, I decided to make a TikTok about my predicament.
To my surprise, I generated a lot of views (20k+ by my standard is huge), and got plenty of comments on what to do.
The majority suggested taking them to the pharmacy, but my previous endeavours with pharmacists and sharps containers put me off this option.
I was giving up hope, when I received a comment to look into the Needle and Syringe Program (NSP). To my delight, on the website, there was a map with lots of locations which will accept the yellow containers.
And so I packed my bags full to the brim with my yellow containers and went on a mission to find an NSP spot. On my way, I passed a pharmacy, and decided to chance my arm (even though I knew they weren’t on the map). A kind gentleman gave me two options: my GP should take them (that was a new one!), or I could take them to the Salvation Army.
I decided to take them to the Salvation Army, which is also a crisis centre, providing this service (mainly for other reasons). There were lots of people milling about and I was asked if I was okay and if I needed any help, which I found very sweet.
I explained I just wanted to drop off sharps containers, and the kind lady working there was very helpful. There was a large bin which I was able to drop my containers into, and to my delight, there were shelves full of empty yellow containers, free for the taking!
I decided to take two containers home to sort out my infusion sets, which I had given up on prior to taking off on my mission.
Once I had popped the sharp centre of each infusion set, I managed to fill up the two containers.
Which means I get to repeat this process all over again!
But, at least I know what to do with it this time.
In conclusion, research the diabetes specific websites for the country you live in, don’t throw sharps in the bins, and don’t hoard your waste for months!
Thank you for reading! ❤
Love, Lydia x
Resources:
https://www.health.vic.gov.au/aod-treatment-services/needle-and-syringe-program
LYD1A KERR 
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