Community Sharps Disposal
Council's Community Sharps Management Policy (PDF, 128.8 KB) aims to maintain high standards of workplace safety, public health and safety, and environmental management through effective management of the disposal of community sharps. This is achieved by:
- Encouraging broad community participation in the safe disposal of community sharps by providing and promoting accessible community sharps disposal options
- Reducing the potential for needle stick injuries to occur by providing information, training, personal protective equipment and responsive management.
- To provide mechanisms for the effective management of sharps in the community to maximise appropriate community sharps disposal.
Community Sharps is a term used to define sharps that have been generated by non-clinical activities in the home or public facilities.
This generally includes needles, syringes and lancets used by patients with diabetes or other medical conditions or injecting drug users.
Community Sharps initiatives in Wagga Wagga are supported by Wagga Wagga City Council, the Pharmacy Guild of Australia, Kurrajong Recyclers, the Division of General Practice & Primary Health and the Greater Southern Area Health Service.
Be Sharps Smart!
Join Needles and friends in an interactive session to learn what it takes to Be Sharps Smart!
Wagga Wagga City Council’s Health Officers focused on developing and publishing a children's book to increase sharps awareness helping children across the community to identify incorrectly disposed sharps and take immediate action to step away and notify an adult.
Council embarked on a roadshow visiting all interested childcare centres to impart the “be sharps smart” message as well as installing two additional sharps bins for community use.
Stay Safe & Healthy with Needles The Echidna
Wagga Wagga City Council’s Environmental Health team does it again!
This time developing and publishing a children's educational tool to reinforce and heighten awareness of safe practices, helping children across the community to understand the importance of practices such as effective handwashing, cough and sneeze etiquette and keeping adequate distance from each other.
Council provided a free copy of the educational resource material to schools preschools and childcare centres to impart this important message in line with NSW Health.
'Be Sharps Smart' Workshop
Join Needles and friends in an interactive session to learn what it takes to Be Sharps Smart. Wagga Wagga City Council has embarked on an innovative approach to engage, educate and help children learn about sharps. A published book educates children to identify sharps and its dangers in open public spaces. It helps to understand the action that needs to be taken when sharps are spotted. Children learn to step back and tell an adult straight away. Adults are educated on the processes to follow should they observe or be notified of sharps in public spaces.
Workshop: Be Sharps Smart
Type: Incursion (available Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday and at the availability of Environmental Health Officers)
Time allocation: 40 mins
Delivered by: Wagga Wagga City Council
Complete the online booking form below for your chosen session. A minimum of three weeks notice is appreciated.
Health & Safety Workshop Booking Form
For more information about sharps usage and disposal, check out the information below:
- Obtain a sharps or other appropriate container (from a needle & syringe outlet) to hold your used material; and
- When your container is full, secure the lid and deliver it to a needle & syringe outlet, or a Sharps Drop-Off Point.
- Store container out of reach of children.
- Do not dispose of sharps or sharps containers into general waste or recycling bins because of the high risk of needlestick injury to workers and other members of the public.
- Place all your injecting material in a sharps or other appropriate container and deliver it to a needle & syringe outlet or a Sharps Drop-Off Point or
- Place all your injecting material in a sharps bin/chute in a public toilet or any other place that has a sharps bin.
Business operators can facilitate safe disposal and safeguard the health of employees, customers and waste workers by:
- Installing community sharps disposal bins in public toilets and restrooms and
- Arranging for a waste contractor licensed to safely remove and transport sharps waste.
If you find a needle or syringe in a public space, please call Council or the Needle Clean up Hotline on 1800 633 353 to have the items safely removed. Most importantly do not attempt to pick up the needle or syringe.
Contacts for sharps pick up:
| Business | Phone number |
|---|---|
| Council's Community Services | 1300 292 442 |
| National Needle Clean up Hotline | 1800 633 353 |
As soon as possible wash the area with soap and running water. Cover with a sterile dressing. Seek urgent medical attention at GP or go immediately to the Emergency Department of Wagga Wagga Base Hospital.
To ensure sharps are correctly and safely disposed of in the community, a close partnership with local pharmacies in Wagga Wagga is established. As part of Council's Sharps Management Program, community sharps containers are located at local pharmacies, where they are kept in a secure location for customer use. This type of disposal service is generally convenient for customers who obtain their injecting equipment from the pharmacy.
Council has introduced two new community sharps disposal bins, at Wilks Park and Tolland Community Centre. These bins allow for the safe disposal of sharps that have been generated by non-clinical activities in the home or public facilities, such as needles, syringes and lancets used by patients with diabetes or other medical conditions or injecting drug users
Remember, if you find sharps in public spaces, don’t touch it and call Council on 1300 292 442 or the NSW Needle Clean-Up Hotline on 1800 633 353. A trained person will collect and safely dispose the sharps.
There are now 19 drop-off points located across the community, the following locations are available should you need to dispose of sharps or sharps containers in the Wagga Wagga area, please find a list of participating locations below.
| Business | Location |
|---|---|
Wagga Wagga Rural Referral Hospital | Edward Street |
Blooms The Chemist | Shop 13, Sturt Mall |
Blooms The Chemist | Shop 33, Marketplace |
Cincotta Chemist | 157-159 Baylis Street |
Wagga Wagga Pharmacy | 46-50 Baylis Street |
Northside Pharmacy | 12 Gurwood Street |
Michael O'Reilly Pharmacy | 67 Baylis Street |
Kooringal Pharmacy | Shop 25, Kooringal Mall |
*Ashmont Inn Car Park | 55 - 57 Tobruk Street |
Capital Chemist - Turvey Park | Shop 3, Turvey Tops Mall |
Capital Chemist - Lake Albert | Shop 7, Lake Village Shopping Centre |
Capital Pharmacy - Tolland | Shop 7, Tolland Shopping Centre |
Wagga Discount Pharmacy | Shop 6, Forest Hill Shoppping Centre |
Estella Pharmacy | 31 Avocet Drive, Estella |
Gregadoo Waste Management Centre | 132 Ashfords Road, Gregadoo |
| South City Pharmacy | Shop 5/1 Tanda Place, Glenfield Park |
| Community Health | Docker Street |
| *Chambers Park Carpark | Tolland Community Centre 41 Bruce Street, Tolland |
| *Wilks Park | Hampden Avenue, North Wagga |
*24hr access | |
To find a sharps disposal facility or a provider of sharps containers near you, visit the Safe Sharps website www.safesharps.org.au to use the interactive map or download the smart phone app. You can also visit The National Public Toilet Map to search for those public toilets which include sharps disposal facilities.