Montebello, CA Public Health Rules: Syringe Disposal (2026)

Section 8.04.035(A) prohibits disposing of, leaving or discarding outside a building's exterior walls any container, bottle, syringe, hypodermic needle or hypodermic syringe, or any used bandage, dressing or gauze from treating a patient. There are two lawful outlets. First, the sharps and used medical items can go into metal trash containers with overlapping, tight-fitting, fly-tight lids that stay secured at all times when not being filled or emptied, and are otherwise sealed with a padlock or similar locking device controlled by authorized personnel. Second, the material can be incinerated in an incinerator approved by the Air Quality Management District.

Subsection B adds a separate rule for infectious or contagious material: bandages, dressings or gauze used in treating infectious or contagious disease must either be incinerated or placed in the locked containers securely wrapped in heavy paper or plastic bags with the open ends tied or stapled shut. This chapter sits inside Montebello's adoption of the Los Angeles County Health and Safety Code as the city's own health code (Section 8.04.010), with the city manager serving as the local health officer for enforcement purposes (Section 8.04.020).

Section 8.04.040 makes any violation of the health code, including the sharps-disposal rule, a misdemeanor subject to the penalty provisions of Chapter 1.12 of the Montebello Municipal Code. A related section, 8.04.037, separately requires medical test materials such as blood or tissue samples awaiting pickup to be stored securely inside a medical facility or in a locked enclosure that the public cannot penetrate.