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
Walgreens 550 16th Street San Francisco Safe Disposal Free Drop-off
Mission Pharmacy 22138 Mission Blvd Hayward Safe Disposal Free Drop-off Drop-off Box inside for needles/syringes in FDA-approved Sharps Containers up to 1 gallon in size.
Walgreens 498 Castro St. San Francisco Safe Disposal Free Drop-off
Walgreens 500 Geary St. San Francisco Safe Disposal Free Drop-off
Walgreens 2690 Mission St. San Francisco Safe Disposal Free Drop-off
Casa Segura 2313 San Pablo Ave Oakland Safe Disposal Free Drop-off
Central Rx Pharmacy 50 Eagle Rock Way Brentwood Safe Disposal Free Drop-off
Walgreens 965 Geneva Ave. San Francisco Safe Disposal Free Drop-off
Don't Rush To Flush - Medication & Sharps Drop-box Location Finder California Product Stewardship Council
1822 21st St; Suite 100
Sacramento Safe Disposal Free Drop-off
CVS Pharmacy (4020 Fremont Blvd) 4020 Fremont Blvd Fremont Safe Disposal Free Drop-off Drop-off Box inside for needles/syringes in FDA-approved Sharps Containers up to 1 gallon in size.
Walgreens 1979 Mission St. 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.
Native American Health Center (Seven Directions) 2950 International Blvd Oakland Safe Disposal Free Drop-off Sharps Kiosk inside for approved sharps containers.
Walgreens 1175 Columbus Ave. San Francisco Safe Disposal Free Drop-off
New Oakland Pharmacy (333 9th St) 333 9th St
b/t Webster St & Franklin St
Oakland Safe Disposal Free Drop-off Drop-off Box inside for needles/syringes in FDA-approved Sharps Containers up to 1 gallon in size.
Walgreens 500 Parnassus Ave., Level J San Francisco Safe Disposal Free Drop-off
Walgreens 275 Sacramento St. San Francisco Safe Disposal Free Drop-off
Needle Exchange Emergency Distribution (Durant Ave) 2340 Durant Ave Berkeley Safe Disposal Free Drop-off
Alameda County Household Hazardous Waste Program (Hayward Facility) 2091 West Winton Avenue Hayward Safe Disposal Free Drop-off  Acceptance of standard size containers as well as larger than 1g sharps containers.  CGM's (continuous glucose monitors) are accepted from residents using these at home with the sharp (&/or applicator) separated into an approved FDA approved sharps container, and the devices collected in a thick Ziploc bag. At drop-off, resident should inform HHW staff they have these medical devices.
Walgreens (Adeline St) 2801 Adeline St Berkeley Safe Disposal Free Drop-off Drop-off kiosk inside. Syringes and auto-injectors in sharps containers up to 1 gallon in size.

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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