Mount Pleasant, SC Public Health Rules: Syringe Disposal (2026)

Chapter 50 of the Mount Pleasant Code of Ordinances, administered by the town's Department of Public Services, governs how households dispose of medical sharps. 29(A) states that home-generated medical waste must be handled in a manner that minimizes health risks to sanitation and landfill workers. Division (B) requires that needles, syringes, and other sharp medical objects go into a medical/health care container, commonly called a sharps container, before that container is placed inside a 64- or 95-gallon town-issued garbage cart for collection; loose needles cannot go directly into the household trash.

Households without a purpose-made sharps container may substitute a heavy plastic or metal container under division (C), but only if five conditions are all met: the container must be as puncture-proof as possible, it must have a tight-fitting lid, the words 'Not Recyclable' must be written on it, it cannot be filled more than three-fourths full, and glass containers are never allowed. The section was adopted by Ordinance 04017 in 2004 and amended by Ordinance 23016 in 2023 as part of the town's broader update to its garbage and trash chapter. 99.