It is absolutely critical that you make sure that all medical waste is disposed of properly in order to ensure that you don't inadvertently pollute your environment or cause a health hazard to those in your community. However, if you have medical waste in your home due to home healthcare, you might not know how to dispose of this waste properly. Here are some ways that you can get rid of home healthcare waste without posing a threat to your community.

1. Call Your Doctor

First call your doctor or your local hospital to see if they know what you can do. Some hospitals will allow you to drop off your medical waste and will get rid of it for you if you have been a patient there. Many hospitals will accept sharps such as needles as long as they have been properly sealed in order to ensure that they do not go out into the community. Your doctor might also accept sharps that have totally been contained.

In order to pack up your sharps, take an empty bottle that used to contain laundry detergent and clean it out. You need all of the detergent to be gone before you start depositing any sharps into it. Then, place your sharps into the bottle. Make sure that you clearly label the bottle so that no one messes around with it or accidentally tries to recycle it. Close the lid every time you deposit something in order to make sure that a child doesn't pull the bottle down on top of him or herself and have the sharps fall on him or her.

Once the bottle is full, take it to your doctor or the hospital that is willing to accept the sharps.

2. See If You Have a Medical Waste Disposal Service in Your Community

Next, call your local government and see if they offer a medical waste disposal service in your community. Then, contact that company and see what they need you to do in order to be willing to pick up your medical waste. In many cases, the packing method described above will be more than adequate for most companies.

3. Talk to Your Pharmacy

Finally, talk to your pharmacy. Your pharmacy might be able to sell you containers that you can deposit sharps into that is safe for you to simply throw out when the container is full because the container is puncture-proof and basically impossible to open.

For more information, talk to a company that specializes in medical waste disposal.