Syringe Disposal

Yarra City Council contracts Innerspace, part of North Yarra Community Health,
to conduct syringe management services across the municipality.

The syringe management services provided to local residents and businesses include:

Removing discarded syringes from local streets, parks and other public areas, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Sweeps five times per week to remove discarded syringes from drug hotspots where syringes are often found.
Providing and maintaining syringe disposal bins across Yarra in places where discarded syringes are regularly found. Here are the locations of the syringe disposal bins.

In addition this, Council also removes discarded syringes and related drug paraphernalia as part of its daily street cleaning services throughout the City of Yarra,

Council's syringe management services form part of the Safer Yarra Plan 2011-2014, which is a guide to maintaining and improving safety within the municipality.

What to do if you find a discarded syringe

You can

1. Call or email for collection

If you:

find a needle or syringe in a public space;
want to arrange to have a needle or syringe removed from your property; or
notice that a syringe disposal bin is full or damaged,

call Yarra Syringe Disposal Hotline on 9417 5125 (24 hours, seven days a week) or at YarraSyringe.Disposal@nych.org.au

The Disposal Hotline is a message bank service operated by Innerspace. Please leave a message and your request will be acted on within 24 hours.

2. Safely remove a discarded syringe

If you feel confident to do so, you may remove the syringe yourself. You can find more information in the Department of Health's guidelines on the safe retrieval and disposal of needles and syringes (347.59kB)

Needle Stick Injuries

If you receive a needle-stick injury, do not panic. Your risk of contracting a blood-borne virus is extremely low, as advised by the Victorian Department of Health. You can find out more in the Department of Health's guidelines on the safe retrieval and disposal of needles and syringes (347.59kB)

Syringe Containers

Innerspace can provide free syringe disposal containers to members of the community (including traders, residents and visitors to Yarra) who want to remove discarded syringes themselves.

Innerspace
4 Johnston Street, Collingwood
Ph: 9468 2800

Syringe Bin for Businesses

Council also offers a Bin for Business program to help local business operators safely manage and dispose of syringes. A one-off, complimentary, powder-coated syringe bin can be installed free of charge in an appropriate location near participating businesses.

Participating businesses will receive a short training session on the safe handling and disposal of syringes. Businesses must make independent arrangements for the collection of any syringe waste from the bins, and will need to be able to show Council a copy of their contract with a waste disposal company which confirms these arrangements are in place

Needle and Syringe Program

Several Needle and Syringe Programs (NSPs) operate in the City of Yarra.

The role of NSPs is to provide sterile needles and syringes to injecting drug users, health information and education, referrals into voluntary drug treatment and liaise with other relevant agencies.

They also distribute disposal containers, alcohol swabs, condoms and water-based lubricant.

DirectLine can give you information about NSPs and drug support services. They also offer telephone counselling and referrals.

Call DirectLine on 1800 888 236 24 hours a day, seven days per week.

Further information
Sarah Jaggard
Community Safety Project Officer
9205 5160
sarah,jaggard@yarracity.vic.gov.au