Editor’s Note: This is a Guest Post from our island friend Aloha_Adventures. She is not your doctor or lawyer and neither are we at XCBDSM. This guide should not be interpreted as professional medical or legal advice. Consult someone with letters after their name for that stuff. If you would like to hear more about kinky life on the Hawaiin Islands, let us know in the comments or send us a message. Maybe we can convince her to write more.
Ok, so some of us love to poke and get poked because needles are awesome!!! But what are we supposed to do with them afterwards?
It has been told to me in the past that you could just deposit a sharps container at a pharmacy when you are done. Unfortunately this does not seem to universally be the case for those of us in the state of Hawaii. Some pharmacies do not want to accept back needles they did not sell you (see this article from Hawaii News Now)
So what do we do after the needle scenes are all finished?
The State of Hawaii recommends placing the needles into a solid plastic container with an opening small enough that someone cannot put their hand into it (ex. An empty detergent bottle) and marking the container with “BIOHAZARD”, it is recommended to also mark it “non-recyclable”. When it is about 80% full or less, put a 10% bleach solution in the bottle and let it sit for a bit and then dump the bleach solution down your sink, cap the container and dispose of it in an opaque trash bag (I would recommend a black “contractor” style bag but this is not required).
To my understanding, this also means that you can disinfect your sharps containers with 10% bleach when they are done, dump the bleach down the drain, lock them (using the permanent closing feature) and then just put them in your normal garbage.
Out of respect for public safety, I would recommend that if you know your garbage gets gone through by people looking for recyclables, maybe dispose of your sharps in a dumpster or trash can in an area less likely to be dug through.
While we are talking about sharps, let’s talk about body fluids and risk aware consensual kink. With regards to other sharp objects often used in kink play, vampire gloves with leather usually cannot be sterilized without destroying the gloves, so be risk aware and either only use one pair on one person or be knowledgeable of the risk of some amount of other people’s body fluids (like micro amounts of blood) being exposed to you from implements used on others. These kind of implements causes tiny breaks in the skin which increase the risk of transmission of blood borne illnesses more than simply having someone else’s body fluids on your unbroken skin. I’m not saying don’t do it, I’m saying be aware of the risk involved.
Implement like metal claws, pinwheels and knives that scratch the skin should be sterilized preferably by stronger sterilization method than just alcohol (autoclaving being the best option, cavicide is another option although it does not reduce the risk to zero) before being used on another person or preferably they should be reserved as one set of claws or scratching/cutting implement per bottom. As always, being risk aware is critical to you and your partner(s) personal safety and health.
Let’s all have fun my kinky friends and keep up the pokey fun!
Curious about the rules in other states? Here’s a guide.
This is a general guide to all sorts of items and how they are supposed to be disposed of in Hawaii.
HIV testing and information (I recommend not disposing of your needles through non-profits as it may take away funds from people with actual addiction issues).
Know your status, free testing for HIV and other STIs is available through the state of Hawaii at the Diamond Head Health Clinic.
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