Safety concerns and tips about discarded needles in PA

Karasiuk said there are safe ways to pick up needles as long as people feel comfortable doing so.

“They need to find something to pick it up with instead of using it with their bare hands… tongs, old kitchen tongs, something like that,” he said. “Then you need to find something that can serve as a vessel or container for the sharp object you picked up. This could be, for example, an empty soft drink or lemonade bottle or an old soup can.”

“Make sure you have that comfort level. If you don't, don't touch it and report it in your community. Once you are comfortable with it, pick it up by the piston side that is not the sharp side and drop it into the jar container with the needle side.”

He said Prince Albert has disposable yellow needle boxes throughout the city. He said you can also drop them off at either the Parkland Ambulance location in the city or the Access Place, where the needle exchange program takes place.

He said people should avoid putting discarded needles in recycling bins or trash cans.

“That's probably the worst place to be…because in recycling, sometimes people care about this stuff, and we don't want someone else's problem to become someone else's problem,” Karasiuk said.

“There is a safe way to dispose of needles.”

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