Used Test Strips

[Glucoweb]

Just curious. How many people must throw away, either in a trash can, or in a used strip container the test strip they just used? I have heard, read about, and even seen people just remove the strip from their meter and leave it in the meter case, throw it in their purse, car floor, etc... Not judging, but to me this is just disgusting. Guess it is part of my Type A, but I cringe at the thought.

[davef]

Mine go straight in the trash, don't know why put don't like the idea of putting them back in the meter case.

[Lulika]

Definately throw it immediately in the trash bin. It is afer all blood, human waste. How revolting if people throw them on the floor or into their purse! Eeeew!

[gettingby]

I keep an old container (clearly marked) to put used strips in when I am away from home and then just empty it into the trash when I get home. At home, straight into the trash can.

[Mich]

My tiny Cozmonitor test kit has a zipper section. I put the used strips in there to throw away all at once whenever I think of it.

It also holds one set and one IV Prep and a folded piece of paper towel for blotting. I don't need no stinkin' alcohol when I test ;)

[kgm0612]

If I'm at home or at a relative's house, I immediately toss the used strip in the trash. If I'm out to dinner, I usually put the used strip in the area where the meter is held and then toss it in the trash when I get home.

Karen

[Scratch]

You can throw them away?

Oh.

[gettingby]

You can throw them away?

Oh.
Oh Scratch. Please tell me you aren't building a used test strip house. :D

[Stuboy]

my meter case has a small zip compartment... it's not big enough for a log book, or anything of use really... so i use that to drop the used strips into... i empty it on a weekly basis and use an alcohol wipe to clean the silky material inside the compartment...

I dont think that's too bad is it? I just dont want to put used test strips with blood on them into the bin... i dont know why, come to think of it you'd put a bloody tissue in there... no different i suppose??

it's just very convenient to put it in the compartment... doesn't hurt anyone, saves looking around for a bin if you're out and about i guess..

[Glucoweb]

:dontknow: After thinking about this some more..... I wonder if Diabetics commit less crime since it would be so easy for anyone to get a sample of their DNA. :D

[Stuboy]

not mine... i dont put mine in the bin remember :D i have it destroyed in an incinerator :D although... who knows what strange things they might do with your sharpes bins after you drop them off at the pharmacy... perhaps there's a mass cloning program going on.... :o

[morrisma]

I toss mine when convenient, or save them in the case till it is.

I love those diners with the paper placemats. I peel my freestyle strips partly apart and stick them to the paper mat. They stick up so nicely. :D
Mike

[HelenM]

Like others I put mine in the meter case whist out but then put them in the sharps bin at home. I agree its no different to a tissue but legally in ( a law of 2004 definitely French but ? EU wide) they count as a biohazard and should be incinerated. The law also makes the local authorities responsible for providing safe disposal systems

[Stuboy]

i did put one in a bin once... it felt so wrong!!

I think Helen has hit the nail on the head there.. it's blood... it's a biohazard.

[patricia52]

I keep a small zip-lock bag in my meter case just for that purpose and usually empty it at the end of the day. It keeps my case clean and is easily replaced when it get dirty or wears out. My Daughter-in-law uses an old bottle the strips come in and relabels it.

[Harold]

Throw mine in the trash if available, and in the case when not. Then it goes in the trash when I get home. Asked one time about it being a biohazard, and was told once the blood dries out the virus I have (Hep C) dies and it is no longer a hazard.

One fellow diabetic I worked with, and I watched him, would just lay his strips down after testing. This was on a break table that people used to eat lunch. Now that was disgusting! At first I noticed several strips laying on the floor around the table and on the table. Since we had several people with diabetes I paid attention until I caught the culprit. Then I jumped all over him. Said he did not realize it, but he at least stopped doing it for as long as I was there.

[Chris Graham]

I have been wondering if they are flushable??? Probably not, huh?

[princesslinda]

I have been wondering if they are flushable??? Probably not, huh?


Yes, they are flushable....I usually wrap them in toilet paper and away they go!

[Glucoweb]

I just noticed that even though I started the thread; I did not say what I do. I have an old strip container, labeled "USED" and put the strips in there. Every so often at work I take it and put it in one of the "Sharps" containers we have at work. This is the only place I have worked where there are Sharp container in every single restroom in all the buildings. Make it pretty convenient. I think it would be nice if all restroom facilities had this convenience.

[Harold]

I have been wondering if they are flushable??? Probably not, huh?

Yes, they are flushable....I usually wrap them in toilet paper and away they go!
Unfortunately they do not break down in the sewage treatment plant. What this means is that someone has to dispose of them after screening the sewage. Better to just put them in the trash for the landfill or incinerator.
.

[princesslinda]

It would be GREAT to have sharps containers in public restrooms...i've only seen this a couple of times while traveling....nowhere around where I live.

[princesslinda]

Unfortunately they do not break down in the sewage treatment plant. What this means is that someone has to dispose of them after screening the sewage. Better to just put them in the trash for the landfill or incinerator.
.


Good to know....guess i'll have to come up with "plan B.":o

[patricia52]

I don't even think the hospitals around here have a sharps box in their restrooms. They do have them in the patients rooms.

Might not be a good idea to have sharps containers in public restrooms since drug users might try to get used needles. I have heard that some of them share needles. If they did have a sharps container, it should be fixed so no one can take it or get to the needles. I guess I will just have to deal with the inconvenience.

[UpNorth]

I put my used strips in the meter case if i'm not at home, if at home, they go into my sharps bin :T

[parrotletzoo]

Like Savoir-Faire, they're everywhere.

[notme]

I keep mine in an empty strips container. I occassionally just put them in the zipper container in my meter pouch and toss them when I get home. I am good with them because I find my darn dog chewing on them if I don't take care.

Anyone seen the top of my thumbdrive? Hmmmm guess I will go scoop and see if it shows up.

[solox316]

Mine go in 1 of 3 places...

Trash can...
Meter case... then to trash can
Night stand, or somewhere in the vicinity, until my wife yells at me... then to trash can.

The American Camping Association and the ADA do not consider them sharps. They are disposed of in trash cans at my diabetes camp... Only lancets and needles...

[Scrabblechick]

If I'm at home, I put them and my used lancets in an empty plastic water bottle that serves as "sharps and strips." If I'm out, I leave the lancet in the pen and wrap up the strip in a piece of toilet paper or paper towel and put it in the trash can.

[RobiJo]

You can throw them away?

Oh.

Hhahahah. I love it.

Mine collect in the meter case until they finally spill all over when I open it. I don't throw them on the floor or anywhere else though... at least in my meter case they are all in one spot and easy to dump when it gets full.

Now back 10-15 years when I used the One Touch Basic and needed like 300% more blood for the test---now that created a nasty mess in the meter case and left blood all over my meter. Still didn't throw them right in the trash though.

[TexChem]

I'm new to all this and so far haven't had the need to test anywhere other than in my own home. But here, I do use alcohol to swab the test site and I use the same swab to apply gentle pressure to encourage coagulation at the site after testing. I then remove the strip, wrapping the sampling end in the alcohol swab. I toss this into the bathroom trash can for the maids to empty on Fridays. After exposure to the alcohol any blood on the outside of the strip is wiped off. And the blood on the cotton swab is brown in color. I guess being brown in color doesn't prove anything but it suggests to me that the alcohol is interacting with blood.

The lancets have a cover that snaps tight, so they go in the same bathroom-trash-can. If I were testing in a public restroom, I suppose I'd rinse off the strip, wrap it in toilet tissue and place it in the trash.

[palefacegirl03]

I keep an old container (clearly marked) to put used strips in when I am away from home and then just empty it into the trash when I get home. At home, straight into the trash can.


Copy cat:D That's what I do too.

[Funnygrl]

I throw them in with my kit and hope it makes it to the trash eventually.

[caswellhb]

I make a chicken wire frame and use the used strips to make various red spotted animals and birds and sell them at the local market.

Not really!! They go straight in the sharps box.

Heather.

[shiftzor]

In the sharpbox they go along with spent solo pens and everything else. I wouldn't bin them, although my blood is perfectly harmless I would prefer to dispose of it correctly. The idea of cloning at the pharmacy is intriguing :D maybe there will be 100 Shiftzor's running around one day :eek:, any GPs worst nightmare .

[Stuboy]

LOL wow shiftzor you'd have you're own army!! lol

[RandallFlagg]

I use a sharps container. When I'm not a home I usually keep them in my case, but the comment of using an old remarked container sounds good. I think I'll be stealing that idea. :) I contacted my city manager and she told me 3 places in my city that will accept my container, one was my local fire department. The containers are around $2.50 at Costco.