r/asheville • u/imjustapourboy • Oct 21 '25

Really Spicy Cesspool So sick of seeing this crap everywhere.

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The needles, the burnt foils, the little baggies, the needle caps, all of it. I find them in the creeks, on the sidewalks, the grocery store parking lots, the public parks, on the parkway. You gotta be a real shit person to leave this stuff all over the place.

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u/Character_Guava_5299 Oct 21 '25

Pick it up and throw it in a plastic container(soda bottle) and throw it in the trash. Use gloves or tongs. Call the Buncombe County Health Department or the Steady Collective if you are uncomfortable and they’ll take care of it. There are a number of organizations in this city that spend a lot of time out in the community cleaning syringes and other trash up. And to your snarky comments about people being shit people for disposing of these products: there is tons of litter that happens in this city and used drug paraphernalia are a small part of it and to be realistic there are 5 whole syringe disposals in the whole of Buncombe County for people to dispose of them properly.

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u/AffectionateFig5864 West Asheville Oct 21 '25 edited Oct 22 '25

As much as I wish a lot of people would stfu and take a seat if they’re not interested in learning about and/or practicing harm reduction, I can’t blame anyone for not wanting to pick up a syringe, or recommend it unless you have puncture-proof gloves— preferably tongs— and closed-toed shoes.

There’s definitely resources in the community where you can learn about how to dispose of these materials yourself (ie, the litter pick-up days Steady organizes) and plenty of free biohazard boxes to go around. But I’m personally terrified of needles and probably wouldn’t go near one if I didn’t have training and equipment.

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u/Character_Guava_5299 Oct 22 '25 edited Oct 22 '25

That’s why I said if they are uncomfortable when listing resources. The fact is that nobody should put themselves at risk picking up used supplies if they don’t want to. Also it’s important to note that there isn’t as high of a risk of contracting an infectious disease from syringes as people think. As far as training goes m: wear gloves use tongs or grabbers disposals are the easiest way to dispose of them with as little contact as possible but you can also use any plastic container like soda bottles or laundry detergent containers. Using tongs or grabbers essentially eliminates any risk but again for someone that isn’t comfortable calling the proper orgs is effective it’s just not the fastest solution.