Discarded needles in the community is an issue affecting many municipalities and West Nipissing is not immune to this reality.
At the most recent Council meeting, the subject of what to do about used needles was raised. West Nipissing Mayor Joanne Savage made it clear she wants answers — and a course of action to follow.
The consensus is that the council will look into installing receptacles in public places for safe disposal of the needles, such as in public washrooms and/or restaurants. It is a practice that has been adopted by neighbouring Sudbury and North Bay and is something members of public works has already been looking into before this item was included in the agenda. Unfortunately, having the boxes doesn’t always negate the careless disposal of needles. A way to combat this, as proposed during the meeting, is to have public works out early to make sure the area is clean and safe.
Another positive step is municipal staff have started to be trained on how to safely pick up and dispose of the needles. Also, the purchasing of special equipment such as gloves that needles cannot puncture through is an additional safety measure.
The discussion has come to the forefront after a West Nipissing resident and her young child found a bag of drugs left in a washroom in the West Nipissing General Hospital.
Council does caution that if there are needles found to call the municipal office at 705-753-2250.
With files from Kortney Kenney, MyWestNipissingNow.com