Investigating management costs of disposable versus reusable sharps containers

Abstract

There has been a lot of conjecture within hospitals as to the efficacy, safety, economics and environmental quality of the two types of sharps containers currently available; that is, disposable and reusable. Anecdotal evidence, coupled with data from hospital waste audits, suggests that reusable sharps containers cost hospitals more in terms of sharps management than do the disposable variety. The aim of this study was to compare the economic cost to hospitals of using disposable as opposed to reusable sharps containers. To achieve this, a sample of hospitals from four states was asked to provide data on type(s) of sharps container(s) used, their cost and size, the number of containers supplied to wards/departments per month, and occupied bed days (OBD). Results of this study indicated that hospitals using reusable sharps containers were paying, on average, over twice as much per OBD than those utilising disposable sharps containers. This cost is at no gain to health and safety; nor have environmental benefits been demonstrated. The conclusion drawn from the data collected and interviews of hospital staff was that the supply of smaller-sized sharps containers (less than 8.0 litres), coupled with transportation of the container to the point at which the sharp is generated, reduces the waste of sharp container space which occurs with the larger-sized reusable containers.