Sarah Howard
Sarah Howard has worked in the diabetes research field ever since she was diagnosed with T1D while in college in May 2013. Since then, she has worked for various diabetes organizations, focusing on research, advocacy, and community-building efforts for people with T1D and their loved ones. Sarah is currently the Senior Marketing Manager at T1D Exchange.
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Do you recycle any of the trash from your T1D supplies? Share your tips for reducing T1D waste in the comments! Cancel reply
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I recycle the cardboard boxes that the infusion sets/sensors/reservoirs come in. The plastic package that my Mio Advanced infusion sets come packed in also have a recycling symbol on them. Everything else gets thrown away.
I said “No”, but after having read LizB’s response, I do recycle the boxes that the supplies come in. In my area, we are very limited in the items that can be recycles. It has bothered me that medical supplies, in general, are so wasteful. More needs to be done in the area of recycling medical supplies.
See my comment on reduced list of plastics, glass & cardboard our recycler accepts. Used to take wide variety of plastics & cardboard even cardboard in which supplies were packaged. Since China stopped buying our recyclables it has had big effect on what our recycler will take. People around here don’t seem to realize that unacceptable plastics & cardboard are going to the landfill or incinerator.
I recycle everything I can. All the cardboard boxes and product books, Tandem infusion set holder (have to push out the needle holder), and the plastic container my Dexcom G6 comes in.
Same. We pull the needle out of the infusion set and separate the parts. Same for the the Dexcom applicator.
It would be nice if the DexCom 6 applicator bulk piece could be recycled. It seem a large waste not to be able to recycle it.
I send back all of my Libre applicator things to the Abbott recycling program!
No bc since China stopped buying US recyclables the list of what we can recyce has been greatly reduced. I recommend finding out exactly what happens to your recyclables after they are picked u0. My municipality contracts for collection of recyclable plastics but only bona fide #1 & #2 plastics are now accepted. Only clear glass from bottles & jars. No colored glass. Only corrugated cardboard without shiny paper covering it. No pizza boxes. I pay for sharps disposal just to protect others. At County Incinerator trash is crushed & shredded before burning. Sharps in any container such as liquid laundry detergent bottles can be scattered where workers would be exposed to them. Workers doing maintenance on crusher/shredder have been stuck by insulin needles.
🙁
There should be a “bulk shipping” option since most supplies are for long term users. The individually wrapped system for everything is unnecessary for the majority of the supplies we use.
DiabetesC–Excellent idea, bulk shipping for long term users. 3-month, one shipment container for 90-day supplies would help too. Currently medicare insists on testing my memory each month with Let’s-see-if-you-can-remember-to-reorder queries. Com’on guys, there’s got to be more efficiency than this !!! ʕ・//㉨//・ʔ
I would like to recycle, but have not found a Site that Recycles, ESP the CGM Supplies, they are not taking them!!
Please list the Sites and Availability
I try to recycle supplies but it is difficult. I recycle to box and paperwork in the FSL box. Of course shipping boxes. Any other suggestions?
I use Lbre and they send a self addressed stamped envelope to put use supplies (10) in to send back to them. I wish Omnipod did the same.
I recycle all the cardboard and paper and recycled the pods until Insulet ended their program in the US.
No one will take the waste from the sensor application of the Dexcom 6
Yes. Everything plastic or cardboard.
All paper cardboard and plastic. I put all sharps in sharps container and take to the local transfer station sharps disposal. Including that disgusting Dexcom 6 applicator that should be RE-usable not disposable. It is a sharp and should be classed as such and disposed of properly. I put mine in large mouthed plastic containers clearly labeled as SHARPS and seal the lid and take to sharps disposal unit at xfer station. Good for Libre(Abbot industries?) for taking back the waste
I recycle the paper components.
I put them in a soda can and then bend can in half so that nothing comes out
That plastic is not recy able. It will get tossed by the trash service.
I always have recycled the boxes that my insulin and supplies came in. For a long period, I saved the tops of my syringes for a school to use for art. Other than that, I don’t see that the rest of the equipment is salvageable.
I recycle the cardboard shipping boxes, as well as the white boxes for my Medtronic infusion sets, reservoirs and CGMs (after cutting out any foam glued on the inside). Unfortunately, the molded plastic for each item is not recyclable, nor is the coated paper that seals them, so that all goes in the garbage. Any sharps go in a 2qt plastic bottle, and I take them to a transfer station (or a sharps container drop-off bin) so they can be safely destroyed.
I recycle everything except needles. Most of its plastic paper the tubing I cut up the CGM inserter what a big waste of plastic that is all of it goes in the recycle set for the needle
Correction I cut up the tubing the big plastic inserter I just recycle as it is
Of course, all paper and plastic gets recycled. (Where I live in France, all the plastic is accepted.) All needles are taken to the pharmacy for disposal.
I also remove the needle from the FreeStyle Libre inserter, leaving the plastic for the recycle bin. My FreeStyle Libre sensors are sent back to Abbott in an envelope they provided.
I regret to say I don’t recycle my insulin pens.
I recycle all cardboard containers and paper items, and I reuse the containers that my blood glucose test strips come in. (These are used to salvage seeds from my garden, and for holding small items that would otherwise clutter up my desk. 😉 )
Great idea for reusing strip containers to salvage and store seeds. Thanks for sharing that useful gardening tip!
Found a company that pays for used transmitters from dexcom, like $10.50 each, but they need to have serial number starting with 8.
StripsUSA.com
I thought it sounded fishy but they sent a shipping label and I got a check in the mail a week or so later. Currently on Omnipod 5 limited market release and weighing out whether or not I want to continue and the lack of recycling them is a big deterrent. Do what I can otherwise w cardboard and things but very limited and very disappointing that someone can’t figure this out.
Just checked out the website. They take dead transmitter with 80 or 81 as first numbers. Good to know!!!
Very interesting. I always feel terrible about not recycling my diabetes supplies, especially if they are recyclable. It would have be nice if Dexcom would at least mention this recycling option on their transmitter boxes.
Paper products only
Boxes
Omnipod sends a big postage paid envelope with each order so that I can return the used pods for them to recycle.
During the pandemic I attempted to donate unopened completely sealed insulin vials to the hospice center. The insulin was refused although I had previously donated insulin at the same facility. I ended up giving it to one of my daughter’s friends.
I recycle all accepted papers, boxes and plastics. Sharps, including disposable syringes and the inserter needle from the Dexcom sensor , go in a gallon BD Sharps container. When full that container will be returned to the pharmacy I bought it from.
I recycle as much as I can, but it’s not much.
Paper and boxes, for sure.
Some of the outside containers can be recycled.
But, the rest (which may be overstated as I may have forgotten something) is not recyclable.
Needles and such go in a sharps container. I smash up that annoying Dexcom 6 inserter and take out the needle part for the sharps. I WISH the rest could be recycled, but it can’t, so in the trash it must go.
I used to recycle the Omnipods when Insulet would send the plastic bags, but I was told they stopped that service, so now I have to throw them away. I was told that it was ok to throw away the pods… ok for rules and law, maybe, but certainly not for the planet. It is quite the conundrum to be diabetic and also concerned for the environment!
I keep wishing and hoping that Dexcom could/would design a reusable device that we could just slip the sensor into and then insert. It is shameful how mush plastic is wasted with each inserter device.
Hi ConnieT1D62 –
*High five!!!!
I read that the new G7 is smaller… I am crossing my fingers tightly that they’ve fixed the inserter issue!!
I said no but we do recycle the boxes the supplies come in. But no to the plastic and other components.
That is exactly what I do and how I replied.
Even if I take the insertion needle out of the dexcom insertion device, that plastic is not recyclable, at least where I live. I am not sure about other cities. In response to Lawrence S., yes I agree that medical supplies need a better way to be dealt with. Just look at all of the medical gloves that are thrown away after a nurse touches each patient. And look at all of the masks that have ended up in the garbage (or worse yet on the ground) during this covid epidemic. Not that I chose to be diabetic, but having to use all of my medical supplies and not much is recyclable is very disheartening.
I feel the same, but I also try to teach people that “You are not Diabetic” You have diabetes. Your diabetes does not define you. I just wonder when the medical community will learn that.
In response to Lena’s comment about use of the the word “diabetic” to define a person with diabetes – do we call a person with cancer a “canceretic”? Or a person with MS a “multiple sclerotic”?
All I am able to recycle is the paper from pump supplies and the paper and cardboard from my insulin.
I hate to see recyclable stuff go in the garbage! The only thing I don’t recycle is the sharps, but the CGM applicators are all plastic, and my OmniPods can be turned in with batteries.
Hi Jodi –
Thank you re: the OmniPods going wtih batteries. I have a bag-o-bats and can add a second one for Omnipods… next time I turn in the batteries, I will ask them about the pods (all the while crossing my fingers!)
I use Dexcom and Tandem. The only things I put into the recycle container are the cardboard boxes and the clear plastic parts of the containers for supplies. All else goes into the garbage or sharps container.
I replied no, but I’m the same as most – recycle boxes and paper, but pretty much everything else isn’t accepted. Honestly, most recycled material ends up in the trash anyway. Henry Renn hit the nail on the head. You have to check with your local recycling center to make sure you understand how recycling works in your area. There are a ton of people assuming they know what’s recyclable when those things really aren’t. 😕
Ditto
Cardboard, paper, and the small plastic recyclable piece from the Tandem infusion set.
I reuse the containers from my test strips to carry cotton swabs with alcohol with me on trips. These containers are water-proof, so they work quite well.
PS: I also recycle all of the cardboard boxes from my infusion sets, reservoirs, CGMs, and syringes, along with all of the paper inserts that come with them – – the only exception is if I am using something for the first time (like a new brand of CGM), then I keep the inserts.
I attended a TCOYD ONE gathering in San Diego in 2019 and a very creative artist had recycled thousands of test strips, used meters, Dexcom inserters and other bits and pieces of discarded T1 diabetes paraphernalia into giant size works of art. One was a giant size sculpture of a surfer guy with test strip shag hair wearing beach trunks made of used meters and Dexcom parts, and another one was a beach gal wearing a bikini made of Dexcom inserters and jewelry pieces made from various bits & pieces of discarded plastic and vinyl diabetes stuff.
I have shopping bags filled with used Dexcom inserters in my diabetes supply closet that I keep meaning to donate to an artist or inventor with some imaginative flair who can come up with a clever design to make them into something amusing and brilliant. Like maybe building blocks to build a fort for kids or as a shelter kit for adults? There must be something useful to do with all those millions of G6 inserters!!!
Although, I feel like loading them all up into a giant box and shipping them back to Dexcom and asking them to deal with the issue of recycling all that plastic please.
Oops! Said no, but I do all boxes/ plastic as appropriate. And separate out sharps in container.
The Dexcom is an excellent CGM. But, the applicator is single use. It is 83mg of waste. I hoped to recycle it but it is made of BPA, the most toxic kind of plastic. 600k customers x 36 applicators x 83 mg per year yields 27 football fields of waste in cubic foot boxes containing 18 applicators. I would not complain without offering a solution: license the medtronic multi use applicator that uses the same method but produces only 4mg of waste. I had one Medtronic applicator for four years (equivalent of 144 Dexcom applicators.
I recycle the plastic packaging from my Dexcom sensors
WA has a jerk for governor, to not discriminate against those less fortunate, sharps no longer require a sharps container. Regular garbage is fine and does not discriminate against those who can not afford container
I recycle the paper boxes for all of my supplies. The one that I struggle with the most is that each one of my Dexcom transmitters comes with an entire printed book and an oversized box. ALL of that gets recycled each time but it is a HUGE waste IMHO.
some when I can
Medical companies need to use more recyclable materials for sure. I recycle everything that is recyclable but am dismayed at how much has to go in trash.
I recycle all the paper packaging and product safety inserts. I was recycling the Dexcom plastic packaging but it does not have a recycle code on it, so I now throw it away. I would recycle the paper backing but I use those for notes on CGM and site insertion should I need to order a replacement.