When you’re finished with an insulin pen, its needle, leftover medicine, and pen body may need different disposal methods.
Put a used needle in a sharps container immediately.
For leftover insulin, use medicine take-back or the disposal directions on your label.
Check the instructions for your exact pen and local rules before disposing of the needle-free body.
Identify What You Have
Identify the Parts of Your Insulin Pen
Numbers 1 to 3: attached needle, medicine cartridge, and pen body with controls.
If a needle is still attached, treat the whole pen as a sharp until you can follow the model’s safe handling directions.
A disposable pen is usually prefilled. A reusable pen takes a replaceable cartridge. A connected pen may also contain electronics or a battery.
Check the product name, exact model, and manufacturer instructions before disposal.
- Put a separate used needle directly in your sharps container.
- A pen with medicine left also needs the unwanted-medicine route in this article.
- For an empty needle-free body, check the label and local rules.
Insulin pen designs don’t all work the same way.
The FDA tells you to follow the directions for discarding pens, needles, and injectors.
See the FDA insulin and device guidance.
Put Used Needles in a Sharps Container
Follow your pen’s instructions for attaching and removing the needle.
Don’t force, bend, break, or handle the needle in a way the instructions don’t describe.
If you can’t safely remove an attached needle, put the whole pen in an appropriate sharps container.
You can also ask a pharmacist or diabetes educator what to do with that model.
The FDA recommends using an FDA-cleared sharps container.
If you don’t have one, FDA guidance allows a heavy-duty plastic household container with a tight, puncture-resistant lid when local rules permit.
Keep the container upright and away from children and pets.
Don’t put loose pen needles in trash or recycling.
Never flush pen needles.
If you use a needle-clipping device approved for your pen needle, follow its instructions for storing clipped needles and disposing of the filled device.
Don’t open the device to retrieve needles.
Choose a Local Sharps Option
When the container is about three-quarters full, close it according to its instructions.
Your local options may include supervised drop-off, household hazardous waste, mail-back, or special pickup.
Pharmacies and police stations don’t accept sharps everywhere, so call before you visit.
See the FDA sharps disposal guidance.
Handle Medicine Left in the Pen
Don’t drain insulin from a pen or cartridge.
The FDA prefers medicine take-back locations or prepaid mail-back packages for most unused or expired medicines.
Ask whether the program takes insulin pens or cartridges and whether it rejects anything with a needle attached.
If take-back isn’t available, read the disposal section on the product label.
The FDA provides a trash method for many medicines that aren’t on its flush list.
Use it only when both the label and your local rules allow it.
Never puncture, burn, melt, or flush an insulin pen.
See the FDA unused-medicine guidance.
Check the Needle-Free Pen Body
Don’t assume every empty pen body belongs in your household trash.
First, make sure the needle is removed and the medicine is used or otherwise handled.
Then check whether the product instructions allow your chosen option.
Some reusable or connected pens contain electronics or batteries, so they may need a manufacturer program or local electronics collection.
Don’t put a pen in curbside recycling unless the program specifically lists that device.
Its mix of plastic, glass, metal, medicine residue, and electronics may make it unsuitable for ordinary packaging recycling.
Use This Order
- Read the instructions for your type of pen and needle.
- Put the used needle in a sharps container immediately.
- Use a local sharps disposal option that you’ve confirmed.
- Use take-back or label-directed disposal for medicine left in the pen.
- Check the pen body for a battery, electronics, and manufacturer instructions before you discard it.