Sharps Disposal Los Angeles

San Diego County says California law bans sharps waste, including needles, syringes and lancets, from the regular trash. Stanislaus County adds the start date, September 1, 2008, and says sharps must go to a collection center in an approved container. Los Angeles County's CleanLA page says the same: do not put sharps in the trash, green waste or recycling bin.

CleanLA, run by Los Angeles County Public Works, lists sites that give out free sharps containers. On the page we read on October 6, 2026 (updated August 3, 2026), the limits were one per person per visit, while supplies last. The sites included the county Public Works building in Alhambra and city halls or centers in Hawthorne, Lakewood, Monrovia, Norwalk, Torrance and West Covina, plus a county health center clinic in Los Angeles. Check the CleanLA page for the current list and hours.

CleanLA also says you can use a container that does not leak, break or puncture, taped, sealed and labeled "SHARPS." It says not to use milk jugs, bleach bottles or soda bottles.

CleanLA points people to these drop-off options:

• the state's pharmaceutical and sharps program (CalRecycle)
• Los Angeles County household hazardous waste collection events
• Los Angeles County permanent collection centers
• City of Los Angeles S.A.F.E. Centers
• Los Angeles County Department of Public Health offices

Call before you go. For other California counties, use the sharps disposal finder.

We checked every official California page in our finder on October 6, 2026. This is what we found:

Travelers should not count on finding a bin. A 2022 survey asked California's 30 commercial airports about sharps bins. 18 replied, and 11 of those had some way to get rid of sharps (Zhang and others, 2022). The FDA's advice is to bring a small travel sharps container.

The county's own mail-back program is only for elderly and disabled residents, CleanLA says. Anyone in California can ask the state's industry-run program for a free container. You mail it back when it is full. CalRecycle gives the number as (844) 482-5322. See sharps mail-back programs.

On June 30, 2026, the Drug Takeback Solutions Foundation stopped running its home sharps program, CalRecycle reports. CalRecycle now lists MED-Project as the group in charge of the state's program. Some older pages still point to the old program, so check CalRecycle first.

Next steps: sharps container disposal covers a full container. How to dispose of insulin pens covers pens. Where to get a sharps disposal container covers a new one.