Guide for Reuse, Repair, Recycling, and Safe Disposal
for Alameda County, Contra Costa County, and the City of Palo Alto
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needles and syringes

Needles & Syringes

A needle and syringe is a common delivery system for injectable medicines and other drugs, such as used diabetic test lancets and used or unused needles which are collectively called sharps.

Household Hazardous Waste

This item should never be put in a curbside bin. For more information visit our household hazardous waste page.

Drop-off Location Finder for Safe Disposal of Sharps Containers

It is illegal for needles and other sharps to be placed into trash or recycling containers. During the recycling process, people hand; keep them safe by NOT placing needles/sharps in your recycling or trash bins. Sharps, syringes, needles, auto injectors, prefilled syringes with a needle, pen needles, and lancets should be placed in a sealed FDA-approved Sharps container. Sharps containers are available in pharmacies and drug stores, as well as online. There are kiosks/drop-boxes in pharmacies, hospitals and police departments can accept Sharps containers up to 1 gallon in size. HHW Facilities may accept larger sharps containers.

  • Free Sharps Containers: Free FDA-approved sharps containers may be ordered online by clicking here through the California Sharps Mail Back program. The pharmaceutical company that your injectable medication comes from may offer a free sharps container program.
  • Mail-back: Free shipping labels and envelopes to mail in your sharps container for safe disposal are available through Med-Project. Some pharmaceutical companies offer free mail-back of sharps containers to their injectables patients.

California has an extended producer responsibility law in place that requires pharmaceutical companies to pay for convenient, safe disposal of Sharps. Alameda County was the first in the nation to pass a Sharps EPR bill.

Vendors

Vendor Address City Destination Disposal Method Notes
Shoreway Environmental Center (SEC) 333 Shoreway Road San Carlos Safe Disposal Free Drop-off Public Recycling Center. Must be in an authorized Sharps container.
Walgreens 1979 Mission St. San Francisco Safe Disposal Free Drop-off
Walgreens 1100 Van Ness Avenue San Francisco Safe Disposal Free Drop-off
Recology SF Household Hazardous Waste Facility 501 Tunnel Ave. San Francisco Safe Disposal Free Drop-off Limit of 15 gallons or 125 pounds per day of all household hazardous waste. San Francisco residents only. Address verification required. Open Thursday-Saturday only from 8am-4pm.
Walgreens 825 Market St. San Francisco Safe Disposal Free Drop-off
Reliable Rexall Sunset Pharmacy 801 Irving St San Francisco Safe Disposal Free Drop-off
Walgreens 730 Market St. San Francisco Safe Disposal Free Drop-off
Walgreens 33 Drumm St. San Francisco Safe Disposal Free Drop-off
Walgreens 199 Parnassus Ave. San Francisco Safe Disposal Free Drop-off
Visitacion Valley Pharmacy 100 Leland Ave. San Francisco Safe Disposal Free Drop-off
Golden Gate Pharmacy 1836 Noriega Street San Francisco Safe Disposal Free Drop-off Pickup a FREE empty sharps collection container, fill it up, and return to the any participating SF pharmacy.
Walgreens 88 Spear St. San Francisco Safe Disposal Free Drop-off
Alto Pharmacy 1400 Tennessee St, Unit 2 San Francisco Safe Disposal Free Drop-off Pickup a FREE empty sharps collection container, fill it up, and return to the any participating SF pharmacy. Loose needles cannot be accepted.
Walgreens 3398 Mission St. San Francisco Safe Disposal Free Drop-off
Walgreens 200 West Portal Ave. San Francisco Safe Disposal Free Drop-off
Koshland Pharm Compounding Pharmacy 301 Folsom Street, Suite B San Francisco Safe Disposal Free Drop-off Pickup a FREE empty sharps collection container, fill it up, and return to the any participating SF pharmacy.
Walgreens 1189 Potrero Ave. San Francisco Safe Disposal Free Drop-off
Safeway Pharmacy 2020 Market Street San Francisco Safe Disposal Free Drop-off
Walgreens 965 Geneva Ave. San Francisco Safe Disposal Free Drop-off
Walgreens 3400 Cesar Chavez St. San Francisco Safe Disposal Free Drop-off

Curbside Service

RE:Source is an online directory for reuse, repair and proper disposal options for the California East Bay area and Palo Alto. Our goal is to connect you with the best options for what you need to get rid of or repair. Please note that we do not accept any items directly.

If you have questions or feedback about this directory, please get in touch, we'd love to hear from you.

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