Windsor's mayor has a message for companies dumping their used needles in the city's sharps bins; stop it.
On the same night Windsor City Council approved a measure to continue supporting the sharps disposal bins currently in place across the city, Mayor Drew Dilkens pointed out a growing problem with some businesses using the bins as their own private means to dispose of their own used needles.
Dilkens showed a photograph of one of the city's nine sharps disposal bins to reporters following Monday night's City Council meeting. While from afar, the material seen overflowing from the bin looks like furniture stuffing, it is actually thousands of used acupuncture needles. The discovery was made by the firm the city has contracted to empty and maintain the sharps bins. It was not clear at which location the photograph was taken.
The mayor said this has been a similar situation at some of the sharps bins and he believed that people are doing it to get around disposal fees.
"Some of the wrong things are getting in there," said Dilkens. "You have some private businesses, you have some people that have sharps containers at certain locations, perhaps business or otherwise, that are using our needle bins to dispose and save money."
To complicate matters further, Dilkens said the dumping of needles makes problem already well-known to residents look worse than what it actually is.
"We`re seeing that with frequency so I think it gives us pause to want to consider what we`re seeing in terms of those bins and the types of numbers that we're seeing, because this certainly is not indicative of the types of drug use that would be happening in the community. The whole community would be addicted if this were the type of thing that you're seeing in some of the needle bins."
The mayor said continued use of the taxpayer-funded bins by companies for their own used needle supply must stop, and potential bylaw enforcement may come to any company that is discovered to be engaged in the dumping.
A disposal box for used needles is seen bursting with disposed acupuncture needles. Photo provided by the City of Windsor.
