PORT ANGELES — When you see a syringe with a needle on the ground, take care to dispose of it safely.
That’s the message from Clallam County Health and Human Services, which now has a brochure, titled “Get the Point,” with instructions for picking up syringes that can carry blood-borne pathogens such as HIV and hepatitis.
■ Wearing gloves, pick up the syringes one at a time, by the plunger end.
■ Drop the syringe point-first into a plastic bottle such as a 2-liter soda container.
■ Put a lid on the bottle.
■ Wash your hands immediately.
Capping the bottle and placing it in the trash — not in a recycling bin — is key, since “one of the biggest hazards of being a sanitation worker is the possibility of being stuck with a hypodermic needle,” the brochure reads.
The county health department also urges labeling the bottles with “Warning: Syringes. Do not recycle.”
Don’t fill the plastic container to the top, it reads; leave 2 or 3 inches between the syringes and the neck of the bottle. Using tape to seal the cap is also a good idea.
The “Get the Point” brochure will be distributed at this Saturday’s Revitalize Port Angeles parks cleanup, which will cover Erickson Playfield and Jessie Webster, Francis Street and Lincoln parks from 9 a.m. to noon. Volunteers are welcome to gather at the park of their choice and visit www.RevitalizePortAngeles.org for information.
The brochures and bottle labels are also available free at the Clallam County Public Health Department, 111 E. Third St., or online at http://tinyurl.com/pdn-syringeservices.
The department also runs a free syringe exchange service where intravenous drug users can turn in used needles and obtain sterile ones. In the first six months of this year, the service took in 152,000 syringes, said public health program manager Christina Hurst.
For information about the service, phone 360-417-2274.
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Features Editor Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5062, or at diane.urbani@peninsuladailynews.com.
