Dirty needles in public spaces are a fact of life in cities across the country, especially as the opioid epidemic rages on. Cities usually respond to the discarded syringes problem in one of the two ways—mostly ignore it, or else use armed law enforcement to step up drug enforcement and sweep homeless encampments. Both approaches are problematic.
No parent should have to worry about their kid stepping on a dirty needle while walking to school or strolling through the park. But people who are using drugs, especially those who struggle with substance use issues, will keep using drugs and needles as soon as they return home from jail or set up camp in another part of the city.
There is a third option, though: Just pick-up the needles.
The city of Lowell, Massachusetts funded a full-time syringe collection program coordinator as a “proactive strategy” that includes both collecting “hypodermic needles from the city’s parks, playgrounds, streets and sidewalks” and allowing “the public to call in or report locations of discarded syringes through an online portal, similar to when a pothole is reported.” In just three years of operation, the program has collected over 50,000 needles. The Lowell Sun recently quoted the program’s coordinator, Andres Gonzalez, on what motivates him: “My main driving goal is to make sure people are safe … It’s something that I take personally. I wake up every day to try and find those needles.”
Lowell is among a handful of cities trying different models for cleaning-up needles. In Seattle, for example, a “clean team” uses devices that safely sweep up needles in addition to cleaning up trash and other bio-hazardous materials off the streets and sidewalks. Boston has taken a page from successful can and bottle recycle efforts and now “buys back” needles from users in the same way you can redeem $.05 for turning in an empty bottle of Coke. And, in Albuquerque, the city’s Community Safety Department has tasked its community responders division with responding to citizen requests for needle pick-ups.