A few days ago, I was out running and found some discarded needles on the sidewalk. Turns out, I’m not alone. Jennifer Davis posted to the Wallingford / Fremont Facebook group that she’s found needles in the Wallingford Park Wading Pool:
Head’s up: I found a hypodermic needle mixed in with other junk at the Wallingford Playground’s wading pool yesterday. Near the benches. I know a lot of parents let their kids climb that hill/trails or simply play over there (that’s exactly what I was doing, my two babies were playing there) so please keep an eye out!
And then Andrea Colvin posted this photo taken at Wallingford and 38th
It was disturbing because I had not seen this before and I did not know what to do with the paraphernalia. So, I nudged them off of the sidewalk to avoid a trip and fall incident. But, all I could think of was, “What should I do if I find used needles on the sidewalk?”
There’s a lot of noise right now surrounding the escalating drug issues in Seattle with lots of opinions and options, with very little information about how to clean up the problem. I read an article, that Starbucks employees are given guidance on how to remove trash from bathroom bins, but where does the average citizen figure this stuff out?
Don’t put them in the garbage
According to Seattle Public Utilities which offers guidelines for the disposal of sharps, needles & syringes, but there’s video or guidelines on how to do the clean up. The main message that I found is , “Do not put them in the garbage!”
“No syringes or sharps, even if clipped, can be disposed of in the garbage. Used syringes should be placed in a puncture resistant container with a tight fitting lid, labeled “SHARPS, DO NOT RECYCLE” and taken to the Transfer Station and put in the special collection bin for disposal – free (limit one gallon per trip).”
More options Disposing Needles
Know what to do
The most helpful information comes from a recent KUOW story about a resident-based group featuring Mike Cuadra, a member of the North Precinct Advisory Council which is a coalition of community groups and businesses from North Seattle neighborhoods. He’s seen a rise in the number of needles littering his neighborhood over the past two years.
“It’s scary. I think people are frightened and angry,” Cuadra said.
If you find needles, here are some basic safety guidelines to follow:
- Treat all used needles as contaminated, diseases can spread through needle pokes.
- Never pick up a needle with your bare hands, wear gloves.
- Wear closed-toe shoes to protect your feet.
- Use a tool like tongs, pliers or tweezers to pick up needles.
- Don’t discard needles in the trash. Use a sharps container or hard plastic container like a laundry detergent bottle.
- Put the sharps container on a stable surface next to the needle. Avoid walking a far distance carrying a used needle.
- Do not hold the container in your hand while placing needles inside it.
- Pick up needles with the point facing away from you and place them in the container point down.
- Remove gloves carefully to avoid contact with contaminated fluid.
- Wash hands well afterwards.
The most important aspect of public safety is being informed and know what to do. If you take children to the park, please speak to them and
tell them “Don’t touch needles!” because they are found in the parks all the time.
If you come across a syringe in public, the first thing to do is call the city. If a needle is found in a park, call the Seattle Parks department at 206-684-7250. Syringes on other city property can be reported to 206-684-7587.
The City is making efforts to provide safe injection sites (SIFs) for drug users, according to “Under the Needle” by The Stranger.
I think you can take them to a pharmacy. And I think, not sure, that there is a sharps container in the bathrooms at QFC. Need to check that, though.
We’ve found so many around Wallingford. Know that calling the illegal dumping hotline or calling another Seattle service is not going to help you with needle removal. The times I’ve called they either aren’t going to come pick them up or the the illegal dumping hotline told me they had a 30 day turnaround (yet I’ve never found one in a public park and if you call the Parks Department for removal of those, that may be a different story — though I believe they’re only open weekday hours). I’ve brought needles to be disposed of at Bartell’s — they normally charge but the couple times I went there they took them off my hands for free. Eventually I just bought a sharps container for a few bucks that can be used if we see them again. Please make sure to educate kids on what these look like and to not touch them. Also, please make sure to report them. Even if the city won’t pick them up you should call them in and let Mike know as well so that it becomes clearer how bad this problem is.
Maybe SPU should educate SPD about this? I found a gallon jug of needles on our porch a few years back. Called the SPD non-emergency number, they said just put them in the trash.
I found almost this same tableau in front of a house at 52nd and 1st Ave NE a week ago: needles and food garbage. Such a friendly calling card from our harmless new neighbors!
So this is what it’s come to …needle cleanup parties .Everyone gets their own sharps container. Fun for the whole family!
Yes, let’s continue to enable these dirtbags who willfully endanger the health of our kids at local playgrounds. You want to actually “how to clean up the problem?” The needles are a SYMPTOM, not the problem. For the ones that actually want to make an effort to get out of their situation, warehouse them away from our neighborhoods but within easy access to transit in safe, clean, faculties with their own individual lockable rooms. Give them each a menial job or responsibility at the facility to feel like they’re contributing and to give them a sense of pride in themselves once again. And provide on site drug counselors and others who can help them get into a steady job. I think you’d see most taxpayers willing to pony up for that, rather than some absurdly overpriced RV “safe lots.”
As for the ones who want their “freedom” and don’t want to live by society’s rules, as well as the ones who move here because they’ve heard it’s a good place to be homeless: Sweep the bums out! Don’t let them set up camp in our neighborhood and push the police to make it miserable for them if they hang around here. Confiscate and destroy their tents and RV’s if they get caught in the neighborhood a second time. Eventually they’ll get the message that they’re not welcome to victimize our neighborhood by leaving their filth and breaking into our homes and cars, and they’ll move on. Turning a blind eye to their criminal and anti-social activities is simply enabling them and will never work.
Amazing. Exactly my stance