Norfolk County Council and Norfolk Environmental Waste Services (NEWS), the council-owned recycling firm, are appealing to Norfolk residents to closely inspect the items they put in their recycling bins, to be sure to properly dispose of any potentially dangerous materials. This plea came after a recycling centre employee was injured by a discarded syringe. Such objects are known as “sharps” and must be disposed of in such a way that others cannot be stabbed or injured by them.
Last month, Ray Wood, Supervisor of NEWS’ Costessey Recycling and Waste Transfer Centre outside Norwich, received a puncture wound from a discarded syringe while he was doing an initial hand sort of waste material sent to the site’s materials recycling facility.
Steve Jenkins, local authority contracts manager for NEWS, said: “Putting medical sharps into recycling bins poses a real danger, as we have seen from this recent incident. Unfortunately, the amount of medical sharps found in recycling material is increasing steeply and the public need to be aware of this problem and think more carefully about how they dispose of needles.”
“Anyone using medical sharps needs to dispose of them in the correct way via needle exchanges, or sharps boxes, which are available from clinics,” he added.
Ian Monson, cabinet member for Environment and Waste at Norfolk County Council, said: “Although we are delighted that people are recycling, they need to be more careful about they put into their recycling bins and understand how this mechanised recycling process that has diverted tens of thousands of tonnes of waste away from landfill actually works.”
He added: “Medical sharps are not recyclable through doorstep collections and are a real hazard to recycling centre workers. We hope the public will take this matter on board and act more responsibly.”
For more information, visit: norfolk-waste.co.uk.
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