Bulloch County, GA Public Health Rules: Syringe Disposal (2026)

Section 8-66(b) of the Clean Community Ordinance, part of the county's special refuse disposal rules, directly addresses sharps. Before disposing of or discarding any hypodermic syringe, hypodermic needle or other device for making hypodermic injections, a person must first break, disassemble, destroy or otherwise render the device inoperable and incapable of reuse. The item must then be safeguarded by wrapping or securing it so as to avoid the possibility of injuring the collection crew that picks it up curbside. This sits alongside the county's related rule for injurious trash generally: Section 8-57(e) requires all waste material of an injurious nature, such as broken glass, light bulbs and sharp metal, to be securely wrapped before it goes in a receptacle.

The county does not operate a separate needle-exchange or harm-reduction siting ordinance in this code; the sharps rule here is a household disposal-safety requirement enforced through the same collection and containerization framework that covers biomedical and contagious-disease refuse under the rest of Section 8-66. Biomedical waste itself is barred from county receptacles entirely and, where tied to a contagious disease, must be handled under the direction of the county health department per Section 8-66(a). The environmental manager oversees compliance with the disposal division as a whole.