As a whole, I give Waste Management about a 3.5, but for their sharps recycling written about below... definitely a 5!
I recently discovered that we residents of Washoe County have a free, safe, and easy way to dispose of our "sharps".
All states and counties have different rules and unfortunately (or fortunately...depends on how you look at it) Washoe County's are the strictest rules in Nevada. BUT, I did not give up so easily. I kept researching it online and discovered something that evidently not a whole lot of people know...
"Any resident of Washoe County can bring in a sharps container and they will dispose of it for FREE! No questions asked. Any business can drop off a sharps container and they will dispose of it for a fee (5-6 gallon = $18.54, 32 gallon = $32.01)"
If you do not have to deal with sharps (needles from hormone shots, diabetic needles, etc), this won't mean as much to you, but if we didn't have this free service, we would have to mail them to a certain place for disposal for a fee of over $40 (for a container that holds about 30-70 days worth). That is why I was so desperate to find a better way. That was for a container that I already paid over $7 for and the medication for daily AGH hormone shots that thankfully I only have to pay a little over a $1 a day (after insurance). It was really adding up, so this is an amazing deal.
I was talking to my father-in-law & sister-in-law on Thanksgiving and realized that neither of them knew about this free service. It sounds like my fil was paying to mail them back for YEARS and my sil has a stash she has been building up since she didn't know what to do with them and couldn't afford to pay to send them away. This means that doctors and pharmacists either do not know about this or at least are not telling their patients.
SO, if you don't have to deal with sharps, at least talk with your older family members and friends and make sure that they know about this wonderful program!
This doesn't only help those who have to deal with sharps, but also the whole community by keeping dangerous used needles out of the landfill or otherwise carelessly discarded.
This is the page I discovered with more information: http://www.safeneedledisposal.org/single-listing/?id=523
The transfer station is also right there and ran by WM. Hubby took two loads the other day and it was $24 per load... so make each one count. ;) They also charge more for certain types of items, but they do a lot of recycling that helps our community, too. read more