Glen Cove, NY Public Health Rules: Syringe Disposal (2026)

Glen Cove's Infectious Waste Ordinance, adopted in 1989 and codified at Chapter 235, Part 3, defines 'sharps' as any hypodermic syringe, hypodermic needle, scalpel blade, broken laboratory glassware or similar article capable of causing punctures or cuts, whether or not it has actually been exposed to a pathogen. Unlike other infectious waste, which goes into red plastic bags, § 235-62(C) requires sharps to be discarded directly into rigid, puncture-proof containers that are impervious to moisture and red in color, secured against loss of contents, and marked with the word 'INFECTIOUS' and the universal biohazard symbol.

The ordinance's prohibitions in § 235-77 apply to sharps just as they do to any other infectious waste. No person may deposit infectious waste, sharps included, into or onto any highway, street, gutter, sidewalk, or public place in the City, and the code closes off the obvious workaround: infectious waste cannot be mixed into rubbish, garbage or refuse meant for the regular municipal collection system, and it cannot be set out at curbside for pickup by that system at all. Generators of infectious waste, defined broadly to include physicians, dentists, veterinarians, clinical laboratories and hospitals, must register annually with the Harbormaster's office and keep five years of disposal records available for inspection.

There is no separate needle-exchange or harm-reduction siting rule in the Glen Cove Code; the ordinance addresses sharps purely as a category of infectious waste requiring rigid, marked, segregated containment and off-site disposal by permitted transporters.