The product stewardship institute (PSI) and its project partners will expand collection infrastructure for the safe and sustainable management of home-generated medical sharps (e.g., disposable…

The product stewardship institute (PSI) and its project partners will expand collection infrastructure for the safe and sustainable management of home-generated medical sharps (e.g., disposable needles, syringes, and lancets) at seven sites throughout oklahoma that serve people with diabetes, especially people of the native nations in oklahoma. To conduct this project, PSI will partner with the oklahoma department of environmental quality (DEQ), covanta environmental solutions (covanta), the oklahoma university school of medicine harold hamm diabetes center, and members of the oklahoma meds and sharps disposal committee (omsdc), a statewide coalition dedicated to increasing safe management of medical sharps and pharmaceuticals which includes active members from several nations in oklahoma including the cherokee, choctaw, and chickasaw nations.activities:the goals of this project are to (1) increase availability of safe, convenient sharps disposal options to vulnerable communities in need of services; (2) increase the quantity of sharps collected safely in oklahoma; (3) divert home-generated medical sharps waste from the municipal waste stream and landfills to energy-from-waste facilities so that energy can be generated from sharps that cannot be reused or recycled; (4) educate sharps users in oklahoma about the importance of safely disposing of medical sharps; and (5) create a best practice program model, tools, and educational resources that will enable other communities to replicate the program.subrecipient:no subawards are included in this assistance agreement.outcomes:this project will double the number of sharps collection sites in oklahoma from 7 to 14 sites. The project will also divert an estimated 2,300 pounds of medical sharps and 1,200 pounds medical sharps containers from the solid waste stream. In addition to adding infrastructure, this project will produce the following outputs or deliverables: 7 new collection sites; at least 1 new educational fact sheet or brochure; 1 educational webinar; at least 3 case studies; 1 updated guide to municipal and community-based sharps collection programs; quarterly and final reports; new data, lessons learned, and best practices for sharps collection that can be replicated by others. PSI will measure and track outputs by monitoring sites regularly to learn how many home sharps containers have been dispensed and returned and by compiling manifest data on weight collected that covanta provides for each site.