PALMDALE – The City of Palmdale and Waste Management of the Antelope Valley invite local seniors to participate in the third annual “Sharps & Pharmaceutical Waste Round-Up,” this Thursday, Sept. 20 from 10 a.m. to noon at the City’s Legacy Commons for Active Seniors, located at 930 E. Ave. Q-9 in Palmdale.
Coffee and dessert will be served to participants.
The event is designed to help seniors properly and safely dispose of their used needles (sharps) and pharmaceutical waste. Pharmaceuticals include pills, prescription medications, liquid medicines and syrups, diagnostic agents, veterinary medications, nutritional supplements, and creams and ointments. Home-generated sharps waste means hypodermic needles, pen needles, intravenous needles, lancets, and other devices that are used to penetrate the skin for the delivery of medications or testing.
All pills submitted for collection at the roundup must be sealed in plastic baggies. Bottles of liquid, such as topical creams, cough syrups, etc., must be brought in their original containers.
In addition to the collection, information will also be provided on the City’s Sharps Mail Back Program, recycling programs and disposal procedures for materials not accepted at the round-up.
Items not accepted at the roundup include:
- Batteries,
- Inhalers,
- Hazardous household wastes,
- Electronic waste,
- DEA-controlled substances, and
- Illegal drugs, such as barbiturates and methamphetamines.
Since Sept. 1, 2008, California state law has prohibited the disposal of home-generated sharps waste in the trash, recycling, green waste, or large commercial dumpsters.
For more information about this event, contact Waste Management at 661-947-7197.
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Me says
Yeah I know this. But I feel that everyone should learn how to dipose of medication.
Me says
I think this should be for everyone. Seniors are not the only ones with medication.
sikntired says
These can be disposed of any day at the Sheriff’s station, collection boxes outside the station.
John Mlynar says
Dear Me:
Good thought. I think sharps/pharmaceutical disposal would make a good article in our next Palmdale Magazine.
Sharps/pharmaceuticals may also be disposed of at the Antelope Valley Environmental Collection Center, Antelope Valley Public Landfill, located at 1200 West City Ranch Road in Palmdale. They are open the 1st and 3rd Saturday of each month from 9 AM to 3 PM. The Sheriff’s station also has collection boxes outside. And, at last year’s event at Legacy Commons, a couple “under 55” people stopped by and they were able to drop off their sharps/harmaceuticals.
William says
I needed to deposit insulin needles (for my cat) at the sheriff’s station but the big plastic jug wouldn’t fit into the mailbox type slot.
So, I put them, all needles were covered, into double bagged Trader Joe’s bags and taped them shut. It made a flatter package that slipped into the slot.