Free tool · Needles and pens
Where your used needles go
Syringes, pens and pen needles never go loose in the trash, the recycling or the toilet. Here is what to do with each one, and where to take them in your state.
1. What do you inject with?
Vial and syringes
- Put the whole syringe, needle attached, in the sharps container right after you inject.
- Do not take the needle off the syringe by hand, and do not bend or break it.
- The vial has no needle. Ask your pharmacy how to throw it away.
2. What size container
Syringes and pen needles are small, so a 1 or 1.5 quart container is plenty for home.
Carry a small travel-size container when you are away from home. Containers come in many sizes, and the FDA does not name one. These sizes and mail-back prices are from one maker, and the size advice is our own tip.
3. Your container
Best: an FDA-cleared sharps container from a pharmacy, a medical supply store, your provider or online. If you cannot get one, a heavy-duty plastic household container, like a laundry detergent bottle, can work. Tick what yours has.
5 missing. A container needs all five.
4. How full is it?
Keep using it. When it reaches about three-quarters full, close it and get rid of it. Overfilling is how people get stuck.
5. The rules in your state
Tap your state on the map, or pick it from the list.
Other ways to get rid of a full container, depending on your area: a drop-off at a doctor's office, hospital, pharmacy, health department, or police or fire station; a household hazardous waste site; a mail-back container; or pick-up from your home. Mail-back and pick-up usually cost money. Most pharmacies will not take a full container unless a local rule says they must. National Prescription Drug Take Back Day does not take needles. Safe Needle Disposal answers by phone at 1-800-643-1643.
Free
Where to get a container for free
Wegovy or Ozempic. Novo Nordisk mails a free container through NovoCare. One every 90 days, up to two a year, for adults, for Novo Nordisk products only.
Zepbound or Mounjaro. Lilly does not offer a free container for these. Its 2025 plan lists free containers for other Lilly medicines only.
California. Free container with mail-back for anyone, by state law. Order at sharpstakebackcalifornia.org or call (844) 482-5322.
Oregon. Free mail-back packages for pre-filled injector pens from MED-Project.
Anywhere. Ask your insurer if they cover sharps containers, and ask the maker of your medicine if they give them out.
Why it matters
Needles used at home each year, US
The estimate rose from more than 3 billion in 2004 to over 7.5 billion in 2011. They come from different sources, they are the only two national counts, and there is no newer one. Neither counts GLP-1 pens separately.
Who gets stuck
2016, US recycling plants
97% of plants found needles at least once a year. 53% found them daily or a few times a week.
2016, US recycling plants
2.7 needlesticks a year per 100 full-time workers, and 4.2 per 100 on the sorting line. An estimated 781 to 1,484 needlesticks a year nationwide.
1989, Washington State
6% of waste workers were stuck by a needle in one year. Among waste collectors, 10%.
2021, insulin users
A third threw needles in the household trash. 64% said no one had taught them how to get rid of sharps.
Each study measured a different group, so they cannot be joined into one trend. The federal labor statistics do not publish this number.
The rules that do not change
Never
- Loose needles or syringes in the trash.
- Needles, pens or containers in the recycling.
- Needles down the toilet.
- Taking a needle off a syringe by hand, or bending or breaking it.
- Recapping someone else's needle.
Always
- Into the container right after you inject.
- Keep the container out of reach of children and pets.
- Seal and label the container before you get rid of it.
If there is no container nearby
You can recap your own needle with one hand. Lay the cap on a table, slide the needle into it without holding the cap, then press the cap against something firm to seat it. Put it in a container as soon as you can. A needle clipper made for syringes is another option.
Traveling
Carry a small travel-size sharps container. If you fly, check the TSA website for current rules, keep your medicine in its labeled packaging, and bring a letter from your doctor.
If you are stuck by someone else's used needle
Wash the spot right away with soap and water, or use rubbing alcohol or hand sanitizer. Then call your doctor or a hospital right away. Used needles can spread hepatitis B, hepatitis C and HIV.
Working out your dose from a compounded vial? Use the compounded dose calculator.
Sources
21 references
- US Food and Drug Administration. Safely Using Sharps (Needles and Syringes) at Home, at Work and on Travel. fda.gov. Never loose in the trash, the recycling or the toilet, and what to do after a stick from someone else's needle.
- US Food and Drug Administration. Sharps Disposal Containers. fda.gov. Where to get FDA-cleared containers, the household container alternative, the five features, sizes including travel sizes, and the three-quarters full rule.
- US Food and Drug Administration. Best Way to Get Rid of Used Needles and Other Sharps. fda.gov. The two steps, the disposal options, travel, and the Safe Needle Disposal phone line.
- US Food and Drug Administration. What to Do if You Can't Find a Sharps Disposal Container. fda.gov. The one-handed recap and needle clippers.
- US Food and Drug Administration. DOs and DON'Ts of Proper Sharps Disposal. fda.gov. Asking insurers and drug makers about containers, and the never list.
- Zepbound and Mounjaro (tirzepatide) Instructions for Use. Eli Lilly and Company. Zepbound at DailyMed, Mounjaro at DailyMed. Single-dose pens and pen needles go in a sharps container. A finished KwikPen with the needle removed may go in the household trash or a sharps container.
- Wegovy and Ozempic (semaglutide) Instructions for Use. Novo Nordisk. Wegovy at DailyMed, Ozempic at DailyMed. Used pens and needles go in a sharps container, and neither the pen nor the container is recycled.
- Safe Needle Disposal, a NeedyMeds program. safeneedledisposal.org. The state by state trash rules and drop-off site counts on the map, read from each state page on September 23, 2026, and that most pharmacies do not take full containers.
- CalRecycle. Home-Generated Sharps Waste. calrecycle.ca.gov. California's free container with mail-back at no cost to the consumer.
- California Health and Safety Code section 118286. leginfo.legislature.ca.gov. No home sharps in trash, recycling or green waste containers.
- Oregon Department of Environmental Quality. Drug Take-Back Program. oregon.gov. Free to residents, and the plan approved in May 2026 for drop boxes to take pre-filled injector products.
- MED-Project. Oregon Mail-Back Services. med-project.org. Free injector mail-back packages for pre-filled injector products.
- New York State Department of Health. Safe Sharps Disposal. health.ny.gov. Hospitals and nursing homes must take home sharps free.
- NovoCare. Safe disposal. novocare.com. The free container for Wegovy and Ozempic, one every 90 days, two a year at most.
- Eli Lilly and Company. Sharps disposal plan submitted to CalRecycle, June 2025. calrecycle.ca.gov. Free containers for Emgality, Taltz and Ebglyss, not Zepbound or Mounjaro.
- US Drug Enforcement Administration. National Prescription Drug Take Back Day, April 22, 2026. dea.gov. Syringes and sharps are not collected.
- Sharps Compliance. Mail-back systems. store.sharpsmws.com. The container sizes and prices shown.
- US Environmental Protection Agency. Community Options for Safe Needle Disposal. EPA530-K-04-001, 2004. archive.epa.gov. More than 3 billion needles, syringes and lancets a year.
- Gold K. Analysis: the impact of needle, syringe, and lancet disposal on the community. Journal of Diabetes Science and Technology. 2011;5(4):848–850. doi:10.1177/193229681100500404. Over 7.5 billion used outside health care each year.
- Environmental Research and Education Foundation and SWANA. Household Needles in Municipal Solid Waste: Policy, Controls, and MRF Safety. 2018. PDF. 2016 survey of 35 recycling facilities: how often needles are found, injury rates, the national estimate, and that federal labor statistics withhold the number.
- Turnberg WL, Frost F. Survey of occupational exposure of waste industry workers to infectious waste in Washington State. American Journal of Public Health. 1990;80(10):1262–1264. doi:10.2105/ajph.80.10.1262. Montoya JM, et al. Journal of Diabetes Science and Technology. 2021;15(1):60–66. doi:10.1177/1932296819882926. The 1989 needlestick rate, and the 2021 survey of 150 insulin users.
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