Bergenfield, NJ Public Health Rules: Syringe Disposal (2026)

Section 344-54 of the Sanitary Code, in the article covering preparation of refuse for collection, splits medical waste into two tracks. Ordinary domestic medical waste, other than hypodermic syringes, is treated like other household waste that needs extra containment: it must be placed in a synthetic bag of at least three-mil strength and securely tied, the same standard the code sets for animal feces and dead animals. Syringes and sharps get a stricter rule because a torn bag cannot stop a needle stick. Section 344-54C requires that domestic hypodermic syringes or sharps be placed in a nonpermeable container, such as a sealed coffee can, and then placed inside a complying receptacle for collection, so the sharps never sit loose in a bag where a collector's hand could meet them directly.

The rule sits inside the same article as the Borough's general receptacle standards in Section 344-52 and the curbside timing rule in Section 344-55, so a household following it also has to keep the sealed sharps container inside a compliant garbage receptacle set out between the curb and sidewalk, not loose at the curb on its own. There is no separate needle-exchange or harm-reduction siting ordinance in the Bergenfield code; this rule addresses only how a household disposes of its own used syringes through curbside collection, not where a clinical program can operate.