New Needle Disposal Introduced at Sandwich Fire Station

Sandwich Deputy Fire Chief John Burke (right), stands next to the Sterilis Needle Disposal System with Sterilis CEO Bob Winskowicz.

SANDWICH – As part of a six month pilot program, the Sandwich Fire Department has been using an on-demand system that allows for the safe treatment and disposal of needles on site.

The Sterilis system, is the size of a standard copy machine and combines a steam sterilizer with a grinder, allowing needles and other medical waste to be treated on site in about an hour.

Afterwards it can be thrown out with the regular trash.

“Technology can help reduce the risk of infection and reduce the burden on society,” said Sandwich Fire Deputy Chief John Burke. “Having the Sterilis technology onsite makes it easy to do this affordably and safely, significantly mitigating the risks involved in storing and transporting sharps off site for regulated disposal treatment.”

The system, which is headquartered in Boxborough and manufactured in Springfield, is currently used in health clinics, nursing homes, prisons and surgery centers.

The remnants of the needles after they are finished in the Sterilis Needle Disposal System

The system uses as cloud-based reporting technology, which eliminates the need for hand-written reporting procedures.

The machine was donated to the Sandwich Fire Department by Sterilis in September 2015 for the pilot.

“When Deputy Captain John Burke approached us we were honored to participate in the department’s pilot mission to provide safe disposal of medical waste in Sandwich and the surrounding communities,” said Sterilis CEO Bob Winskowicz.

The Sandwich Fire Station receives around 100 needles a week with 80 percent of them from diabetics, 10 percent from self-injectors and the rest from regulated medical waste from other sources.

By JUSTIN SAUNDERS, CapeCod.com Newscenter