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
Walgreens 4645 Mission St. San Francisco Safe Disposal Free Drop-off
Walgreens 300 Gough St. San Francisco Safe Disposal Free Drop-off
Walgreens 1750 Noreiga St. San Francisco Safe Disposal Free Drop-off
Walgreens 1175 Columbus Ave. San Francisco Safe Disposal Free Drop-off
Walgreens 498 Castro St. San Francisco Safe Disposal Free Drop-off
Walgreens 300 Montgomery St. San Francisco Safe Disposal Free Drop-off
Walgreens 1899 Fillmore St. San Francisco Safe Disposal Free Drop-off
Walgreens 500 Geary St. San Francisco Safe Disposal Free Drop-off
Walgreens 3001 Taraval St. San Francisco Safe Disposal Free Drop-off
Walgreens 1979 Mission St. San Francisco Safe Disposal Free Drop-off
Walgreens 500 Parnassus Ave., Level J San Francisco Safe Disposal Free Drop-off
Walgreens 3201 Divisadero St. San Francisco Safe Disposal Free Drop-off
Walgreens 1189 Potrero Ave. San Francisco Safe Disposal Free Drop-off
Walgreens 199 Parnassus Ave. San Francisco Safe Disposal Free Drop-off
Walgreens 5260 Diamond Heights Blvd. San Francisco Safe Disposal Free Drop-off
Walgreens 33 Drumm St. San Francisco Safe Disposal Free Drop-off
Walgreens 1201 Taraval St. San Francisco Safe Disposal Free Drop-off
Walgreens 200 West Portal Ave. San Francisco Safe Disposal Free Drop-off
Walgreens 5280 Geary Blvd. San Francisco Safe Disposal Free Drop-off

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