NEW CALIFORNIA LEGISLATION IMPACTING DISPOSAL OF SHARPS
SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA – May 14, 2007 –After September 1, 2008 diabetics in California must use sharps containers for all their used syringes and pen needles.
The State of California recently passed Senate Bill 1305 relating to the transportation and disposal of insulin needles and syringes used by diabetics. After September 1, 2008 needles and syringes can no longer be deposited in normal household trash and waste containers in California. After that time sharps containers must be dropped off or mailed to California approved collection sites. Senate Bill 1305 also requires transportation of these home used needles and syringes in approved sharps containers.
One of the issues still to be decided is how the hundreds of thousands of sharps containers required by the new California legislation will be supplied to home sharps users. California is also working on the development of a safe, convenient and cost-effective infrastructure for the collection of millions of home-generated sharps.
UltiMed has proposed to the California legislature the following solution to these unresolved issues:
1. Every person in California who purchases syringes or pen needles from a pharmacy, local or mail order, must receive a sharps container.
2. The manufacturer of sharps delivery devices must supply a sharps container with each box of syringes or pen needles sold in the State of California.
3. The purchaser of syringes or pen needles will pay a $5 “green fee” with each home use sharps container received in the State of California.
4. When a sharps container which contains used sharps is returned to a authorized return location the $5 “green fee” is paid to the person retuning the sharps container.
In the past, California has been a national leader in recycle return points, point-of-sale (POS) returns and “green fees” for environmentally sensitive products such as motor oil, tires and lead acid batteries. UltiMed’s proposal for sharps waste uses the same successful recycling methods already used with great success for all other environmental sensitive consumer products.
UltiMed, Inc. which is headquartered in St. Paul, Minnesota markets syringes, needles, lancets and innovative dual-purpose sharps containers for both the domestic and international markets. The Company owns and operates state of the art medical device manufacturing facilities in the U.S. and abroad. UltiMed also has a wide range of global business partners to assist in bringing its broad spectrum of medical products to customers around the world.
UltiMed Inc., 287 East 6th Street, St. Paul, MN 55101 www.ulti-care.com
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