Share the (non-medical) tips and tricks that help you in the day-to-day management of diabetes.  Tell us everything from clothing modifications, serving size/carb counting tricks to the tried and true Dexcom-in-a-glass trick or the “secret” to turning on a Medtronic pump’s backlight when not on the home-screen (scroll to the bottom of this post). Please remember to give non-medical advice only!

I’m not sure if this is a diabetes “hack”, and it’s likely only going to matter to people living in California, but if you live in the Golden State…

Did you know that Walgreens pharmacies will straight up give you a sharps container if you ask for one? I asked Google what was up with that and found this FAQ from calrecycle.ca.gov. And I quote:

SF Recycling & Disposal administers the program, which is funded through garbage rates paid by the residents of the City of San Francisco. The company buys the sharps containers, delivers them to participating Walgreens, and arranges for a medical waste company to pick up the full containers. More than 1,500 containers are distributed to the residents of San Francisco each month. After collection from Walgreens, the needles and other sharps are microwaved to sterilize them and then ground up and discarded at specially permitted landfills. When garbage collectors observe needles in the trash, the customer is contacted and told about the Safe Needle Disposal Program. For fiscal year 2007, the Safe Needle program costs were $231,395. Labor & related costs were $102,197, disposal costs were $96,754, and supplies were $32,444. As a percentage of total revenues, this works out to 0.25%. On a customer basis, for the ~151,800 residential/apartment customers it’s ~$1.52 per year or 13 cents per month.

I couldn’t find anything to suggest that CVS or other competitors have a similar program, but if you have a Walgreens nearby and you don’t want to use empty 2 liter soda bottles for your diabetes waste, give it a go.

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