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How much of your diabetes supply packaging do you recycle? Share your tips for reducing T1D waste in the comments!
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All or almost all. However, current environmental thinking is changing a bit.
The shift in thinking is to the life cycle of products or services in which the originator or manufacturer makes design decisions on environmental matters. The individual consumer actions, all 7.5 billion of us, are feeble at best and futile at the worst.
The single largest environmental elephant in the room still being plastics, a man-made and manufactured product.
We may be living longer, thanks to having insulin pumps, but I worry that we are setting ourselves up for being able to watch the grand finale of our beautiful planet.
I recycle what my local recycling allows, which isn’t much.
Very little. I recycle all the boxes and paper covers of Tandem cartridges, however the G6 plastic packaging is not PETE so our recycling center cannot take it. Most of the insulin pump packaging does not have recycling symbols, so again you can’t recycle it.
As much as can be. The needles I take back to Kaiser. The syringes and tubing too.
I recycle any part of my supplies that’s recyclable. With Dexcom G6, that’s not a lot.
Recycling is questionable. I’ve read many reports that many collectors of “recyclables” actually just co0mingle and dispose of them with the rest of the trash after leavening a residential neighborhood while charging equal or more for the “service.” So it’s unclear that recycling is actually accomplished. Quite frankly, I think governments ought to require a high percentage if not all packaging materials to be recyclable and put the cost into the products purchased. It should not be optional. We either care about where we live or don’t. Burying it or transferring it other countries is just unhealthy and a lousy practice for those that follow us.
I recycle every bit that is recyclable, but that is less than half of the packaging. I’m continually frustrated about the amount of waste in the design & packaging of diabetes’ supplies & medications. I’ve noticed that Dexcom has decreased the massive amount of paper & plastic packaging of each sensor, but they need to do so much more. For example, I don’t see why they need to supply a big plastic device (to insert the sensor) with each one. Why not make that device work for at least several sensors? Similarly, Insulet sends a one-time disposable syringe with each pod which is changed every 2-3 days.
I agree, I was very disappointed when I moved from Medtronic to Tandem and Dexcom to find that both insertion devices were no re-usable. They create way more waste than Medtronic and increase the volume of material I need when traveling.
I recycle all of the packaging that is recyclable. Unfortunately, syringes, infusion sets, cartridges, etc. all come in packaging that is part (recyclable) paper and part (unrecyclable) plastic.
Our recycling does not take plastic as there are no buyers for plastic waste. There is very little paper paging but I do recycle the little that there is.
I recycle or reuse the nice sturdy boxes, and the connector for filling the reservoir goes in the sharps containers. Unfortunately, neither the plastic containers nor the thick, coated paper sealing each item can be recycled where I live.
I’m not sure what you are asking. We recycle everything in our household (if it is recyclable) but I do not send materials back to the manufacturer for the diabetic supplies. I suppose I could ship styrofoam boxes for re-use.
I would love to know how to recycle some of the packaging. It’s just so much waste that’s going to sit in a landfill forever 💔. It’d be nice if diabetes supply companies would include a return shipping package in the box so we could send back the packaging (especially the infusion sets —so much plastic!) and they could repurpose it or break them down to be recycled properly.
You need to loudly let them know that you want the packaging to be reduced and made from recyclable materials. As consumers of their products we can make a positive difference.
In Washington most of the packaging.
In Alaska none.
I recycle the big cardboard boxes that the whole shipment of supplies of my Tandem diabetes pump and dexcom come in, the paper instructions that come in these boxes. I also recycle the smaller cardboard boxes that come in those big boxes. If any of those boxes can be reused for some other purpose, I certainly do that too. Unfortunately the plastics contained are not recyclable. I wish all plastics were recyclable as the plastics I can put in our recycling containers that are picked up every week are very particular types of plastics. Such a shame.
How about we send all the plastic waste products generated from use of their devices back to Tandem, Medtronic, Dexcom, Omnipod, and Abbott?
I absolutely LOVE using Dexcom for cgm, however the wasteful plastic makes me sad every time I use another one and have to dispose of it. Returning thousands upon thousands and thousands more thousands upon more thousands of used Dexcom inserter device pods would certainly send a powerful message to Dexcom to PLEASE DO SOMETHING RESPONSIBLE ABOUT THE WASTE!!!
I recycle as much of the packaging as I can. Unfortunately, very little of the Tandem pump and Dexcom CGM supplies are packed in recyclable materials. I’ve written to both Tandem and Dexcom regarding my deep concerns with their choice of packaging materials and the tremendous amount of generated waste. I’ve also sent messages to local government and my congressional and senate representatives. Minimal packaging and the use of recyclable materials starts at the very beginning of the device design process. I’ll continue to let the companies know that as a consumer of their products that should be a priority.
I get frustrated when I read about people putting non-recyclables into the recycling stream. Sorting this stuff out causes recycling costs to soar.
I recycle all paper plastic and cardboard. We do it with everything we get.
T1d does a great dis-service to legitimate recycling. Since China stopped buying our unusable plastic waste there isn’t anything in T1d waste that is recyclable. Putting non-recyclable plastic into the recycling stream just increases cost in sorting it out. It ends up going to trash stream.
All the cardboard and paper but none of the plastics (not recyclable here). I used to send used Pods to Insulet but they no longer do that in the US.
Most plastics are not readily recyclable. In 2018 in China, “National Sword,” was implemented and many recyclables were not longer being imported to China. Contamination was one of the main concerns. I recycle the stiff cardboard outer box/packaging, and nothing else. Many jurisdictions (New South Wales, Australia), are just landfilling plastics now.
As for contamination, a pizza box with a single grease-spot is contaminated. The smell alone attracts vermin. Consult with your local jurisdiction
The boxes are easy. They just go into our community recycling. It took me a while, though, to discover that my local UPS store will reuse foam-filled containers that my insulin comes in.
The companies need to make the applicators reusable. It is ridiculous how much medical waste from cgms. Mine is now implanted—lasts 180 days. Very little waste. Eversense.
I agree with you about CGM companies making reusable applicators. It would be so easy for Dexcom to com up with a reusable applicator for cgm insertion. Those plastic volkswagon applicators are a waste of resources!!!
Only the cardboard packaging. Our Sanitation (It’s not private) only picks up #1 and 2 plastics.
almost none. Plastic isn’t correct type for my trash collection. And the paper is wrong too. Shipping boxes, yes.
Our local recycling only allows for PET 1 plastic (box for Omnipod pods and Dexcom sensors) and the cardboard boxes. I feel bad for those huge sensor applicators. I return needles at my daughter’s clinic. I have kept every pod and plastic syringe for years for an art project my daughter can make one day to raise awareness for Type 1 diabetes.
I recycle all of the boxes and most envelopes In which I receive my supplies, however the Veterans Administration ships my insulin in a Styrofoam cooler. Sometimes I am able to reuse the coolers, but not always.
I recycle the boxes that my supplies come in – – both shipping boxes and the individual boxes from the CGMs, Transmitters, Pump Infusion Sets and Reservoirs. I also recycled the box that my pump came in. I tried to recycle the plastic bubble that my CGM comes in, but I was told that these are not recyclable in my area.
I use a sharps container for the needles/syringes that I use to fill my reservoirs, as well as my CGMs/Transmitters and infusion set connector ends ( the part that has the small needle that goes into the part on my skin). Not sure that this counts as “recycling” though, but at least it’s not filling up a landfill!