A lot of pharmacies are distributing one page pamphlets and displaying posters promoting the proper (and legal) disposal of sharps. Sharps are syringes and injection pens used by all sorts of patients (diabetics for example). The pamphlets promote a program called the MED-Project, and it sounds like it’s a government program that will supply you with sharps containers that you just have to mail (pre-paid postage adhered to boxes).
I tried it. After filling out a form online, I received a 1.4 qt. plastic sharps box. All good I thought. Between my wife and I, we filled the container in about six weeks. Them I packaged it up in the box supplied, and dropped it off at the Post Office. Sounds great right?
It’s not free. The initial text implies it is, and I guess technically that first box was free. But, you have to order your supplies, and the company you order from is called Pureway. They have several different choices in sizes. The basic one, the one I initially received from them is a 1.4 qt box. They offer them in six pacs (each one comes with it’s own pre-paid mailing box) and these six packs are $118.00, so if you use one each month, you are looking at $236 per year.
In contrast, (and this is the way I usually go) Amazon sells a five pack of 5 qt containers for $28.95. Typically we fill one up 2.5 months. The catch is that I have to take the container to a designated sharps disposal bin (there are several around the town I live in), so no different then taking one to the post office. Those 5 containers last just over a year, for a savings of $207 each year.
In other words, MED-Project AKA Pureway is ripping you off $207 yearly, and there’s no real convenience, unless you live in a rural town that provides no sharp disposal bins.
Let the buyer beware.