Showing posts with label used needles. Show all posts
Showing posts with label used needles. Show all posts

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Maybe it's just me

Have you guys seen this article about disposal of used hypodermic needles in old soda cans? The miracle is in the lid!
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Am I the only one that thinks this is a bad idea?

Aluminum cans:

- aren't known for their durability (at 0.019 thousandths of an inch)
- are an item people are likely to dig through the trash to find
- are made of one of the few endlessly recyclable materials

If the lids work exactly as the designers hope they will, this means thousands of cans in landfills, forever - a waste of perfectly recyclable aluminum.

If scavenging folks collect these cans, will recycling centers accept them with a "totally tamper proof" plastic lid, full of needles? No. When you realize a soda can is readily cut through with a butter knife, how tamper proof is it?

Is this plastic biodegradable? Of course not - that would impede the safety, wouldn't it? Just what we need, more plastic in the landfills.

Is a can better than previous solutions? Yes.
Prize-worthy? A good solution? No.