What do you do with your sharps?

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    • #9884
      Tim
      Keymaster

      I chuck them in the lake, but what do you do with your piles of medical waste?

    • #11260
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      As I am a pump person we have found the blue plastic bit at the end of the syringe which hides the needle going into the insulin vial very useful for the Doc Who Tardis model made by my son. The plastic canula packaging have become eye parts on kids models at the local school where I work and the two(why 2 ?) booklets which I get with the canulas are recycled. Otherwise sharps in the sharp bin and the rest in the black bin. I used to enjoy making a great noise with the plastic syringes by holding my finger over the needle end and pulling the plunger out or squirting my sister with water in the summer. I suppose you could always fill the insulin vials up with coloured water and pretend to work in a chemist (I always liked Boots blue apothecary jars in the windows)

    • #11263
      Stephen
      Participant

      @mustard aka Blue Peter presenter in the making!

      I’m boring, my sharps go in a bin and once every six months I scare the crap out of the GPS receptionist when I turn up with half a tonne of the luminous beasties …..

    • #11270
      Annette A
      Participant

      The sharp bit of the cannula once removed goes in the sharps bin, as does the cannula itself.
      The books (yes, why are there 2 in every pack? I’ve wondered that myself) go in recycling, as do the plastic bubbles that surround each and every bit of the pump consumables (as they are so cutely called) and the paper bit you have to tear off to get into said bubble. All the dozens of boxes everything comes in – recycling again. Everything else, in the non-recycling waste. [God, that sounds like I’m a real greenie. Blame Warwickshire’s convoluted rubbish/recycling collections…]

    • #11271
      Cecile
      Participant

      (Sterilised) sharps are used to pin stuff to my styrofoam surfboard papier-mâché palette; blunts (in this case, orange syringe caps) are used to provide a nice soft edge to the holes through which the washing line passes. Syringes have been used for feeding orphaned baby birds and adult bird resuscitation after they fly into the window…and once, to inject vodka into an orange.

      @mustard: My syringes refuse to say a word when fingering them; when you make them suck at your tongue, you get a sound a foley artist might categorise as “pixie champagne bottle is opened”. :)

    • #11273
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      @Cecile how did you find out about “sucking your tongue” ?? Are you partial to sipping the old insulin? I like your idea of using sharps on pin board.

      Yes I was and still am a blue peter fan and I love making models (the only reason why I studied Architecture) Perhaps we could run a send in your creation photo using your consumables?

    • #11275
      Hairy Gnome
      Participant

      I recycle all the boxes and booklets, clip the needles, and bin the rest. Boring old fart… ;)

    • #11281
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/oppresswomen/PancakePartyWithGreg#

      He eats all mine! :P Had him two years now, and only about a third full – Cardiff council and your on-call sharps box collection and delivery service, I salute you! Just wish they had the same service here in Coventry…

      Oh, and I recycle all the endless cardboard boxes and booklets that I get. I think even if I hadn’t cared much about recycling before diagnosis – after a few months of producing the amount of crap we seem to require I would have started!

      @Cecile I do like the idea of using sharps as pins – I have a few big cork boards I fill with gig tickets, and adding some diabetes related fun to that would be cool. What do you do about the spiky bit on the inside though?! That has caught my finger tips a few times and seems to be ridiculously painful!

    • #11284
      Cecile
      Participant

      @neobrainless: Use your empty cartridge rubbers as contraceptives (after extracting them with a corkscrew)

      @mustard: There’s nothing like insulin to help with a (cre)soliloquy if you’re stage frightened :D

    • #11285
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      @Cecile: I was getting all kinds of interesting images until I clicked the link! Cunning plan, but I don’t think a corkscrew would fit?! Maybe I’ll try applying my burgeoning engineering knowse to make it work :)

      Also, clicking the link reminded me that I still have a very old in joke attached to links to that album… It was funny when I was 18 is all I can say (and came complete with a website and t-shirts…)! I really should get around to getting a different secondary email though! D:

    • #11286
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      EDIT: I’m an idiot. You of course meant the ‘plunger’ bit, not the tiny little miniscule bit that the needles stick in :P *facepalm*

    • #11287
      Cecile
      Participant

      How many engineers does it take to extract a rubber from a cartridge? Only 1, if he’s “open”-mindedly neobrainless, and you give him an explicit pictured instruction :D

    • #11288
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      *embarrassed*

      :)

    • #11707
      Annette A
      Participant

      (Hope this works) More (Christmas) recycling of diabetic junk…
      http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1676423&id=1061769257

    • #11709
      Stephen
      Participant

      Can’t see it :( Copy the public link at the bottom of the image, it’s slightly longer than that one you posted?

    • #11710
      Annette A
      Participant
    • #11711
      Stephen
      Participant

      That is quite possibly the most awesome thing I have ever seen :D

    • #11712
      Annette A
      Participant

      Might I suggest that you try getting out more? :-) But thankyou.

    • #11713
      Cecile
      Participant

      Snakes & ladders-ball much appreciated…exactly what (I presume pumpy) parts did you use? (the adhesive/glittery gloop looks edible :))

    • #11714
      Annette A
      Participant

      They are the ‘plugs’ for putting onto a cannula when you’ve removed the pump temporarily for showering/swimming etc. You get one with every cannula. I use maybe 1 in 3 of them (repeatedly) so have a very large supply…Its not toxic (it’s kid-friendly) but I wouldn’t advise it :-)

    • #11718
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      That is indeed VERY cool @Annette! I was also wondering what magical parts you had used… Yet another reason to be a pumper I guess – cheap Christmas decorations! :P

    • #11882
      lizz
      Participant

      Very impressed.

      I am also very irritated by all the booklets. The thought of all these diabetics opening and recycle binning is so distressing!

      I put sharp things in the sharps bin.

      I throw the old cartridges of finger prickers in the bin, and everything else in fact.

      Except for the white boxes which are useful for so many things.

    • #11899
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      Anette that is awesome i wish i had even 1 artisitic bone in my body lol. The most i do when im bored at work is play diabetic bowling. I get the needle tops and line them up then shoot the little plastic bit from the top at them. You should hear the cleaner when she comes near my desk. VRMMMMMM CLICK CLICK VRMMM CLICK CLICKITY CLICK VRRMMMM. Henry must hate me.

    • #11908
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      @Chris – I expect he does, poor bloke!

    • #12060
      Tim
      Keymaster

      Diabetic Bowling for the next Olympics. I’ll start a Facebook campaign!

    • #12280
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      I just found another great use for old diabetes kit. Though it is old school as well, I’m not sure any of my stuff would be any good for the same…
      http://acousticguitarbuild.blogspot.com/2009/01/finishing-lacquering-hiccup.html

    • #12282
      Tim
      Keymaster

      @Rohan – Cool! I also like the lampshades in your kitchen! :-)

    • #12287
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      @Tim – Eh? I’m afraid any lampshades you may have spotted are no longer mine! I have moved around LOTS…

      P.S. I just realised there could be some confusion from the way I worded that last post – I want to make it clear I am NOT the person who made a guitar… Maybe in a few years, but I doubt it would be that cool if I do… *awkward face*

    • #12291
      Tim
      Keymaster

      Oh, I see – so to correct myself, I like the lampshades featured in the picture on the front page of said blog!

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