kristinafh's Full Review: Bd Home Sharps Container for Insulin Syringes,#323...
When I was having to inject myself multiple times a day (with Octreotide), it was imperative to find some sort of a container in which I could properly dispose of my used needles and syringes.
It was a no brainer for me to pick up this product - BD Home Sharps Container because BD is one of those "names" that screams familiarity and reliability.
I could easily find BD Home Sharps Container at any pharmacy or online at any major retailer selling health and beauty aids. The price ranged from $4.99 to $6.99 depending on where I purchased it from.
The BD Home Sharps Container is blood red, stands about 12 inches tall and 5 inches wide (all around) and has a white screw/snap cap at the top. One side has a giant sticker which practically screams MEDICAL WASTE! DANGER! NEEDLES! on it. That makes it easy to see from far away and it's a helpful reminder to others not to get careless around the container should it be within their reach.
When you complete your business, you insert the used syringe/pen needle into the top, white cap area and as long as your container isn't full, it nicely falls to the bottom. If you were to accidentally drop your container or if some curious child tried to turn this over and shake out your syringes - chances are - absolutely nothing would come out. And I'm only speaking from the syringe perspective - not the pen needle perspective (never had to use those). The design of the container is such that the 'hole' in which you insert your syringe is fairly easy to navigate (in), but not to navigate your syringe out (hope that made sense!).
Depending on the size of your syringe/pen needle will depend on how many of these puppies you can fit inside. They advertise 70 syringes and 300 pen needles. My experience, using their Ultra-Fine II Short Needles - 1 cc is that I could comfortably fit in about 80 without causing myself any issues. Since I never used pen needles, I couldn't validate their claims on how many really do fit within the container.
BD advertises their sharps container as leak-proof and puncture-resistant. And my experience after using these containers for two years is that they are accurate on both claims.
When your container is full - and you'll know when that time comes - because you won't be able to get anymore in (and you won't be able to close your white cap) - you need to ensure that you're disposing of it properly.
BD has a mail-in program you can use but I found that checking out the locations in your area which take medical waste, ends up being a cheaper (and easier) method in which to dispose of your container.
This link - http://www.safeneedledisposal.org/home.html - will help you understand what your options are because they can vary from state to state.
For Used Insulin Syringes and Lancets Find a wide variety of FSA Store Products at drugstore.com, where you get 5% back and free shipping!More at drugstore.com
Epinions.com periodically updates pricing and product information from third-party sources, so some information may be slightly out-of-date. You should confirm all information before relying on it.