Health and safety experts concerned about rapid tests ending up in the recycling bin

With the distribution of millions of rapid test kits to schools and daycares across the province over the last few months, experts want to make sure people are disposing of them properly.

"I think that there’s not enough messaging about this yet and really the rapid tests kits are medical waste right and so in a laboratory, they’d be managed as such and in the home community people are less aware," said Dr. Sandra Dorman, director of the Centre for Research in Occupational Safety and Health (CROSH) at Laurentian University.

So what are people supposed to do with the waste once they’ve completed a test kit? Experts say they need to go in the garbage and in the proper way.

"What we do ask is for those that are doing them at home that they do double bag them before they throw them out in their garbage that way we’re ensuring that no one is coming in to contact with any of the stuff that is in there and we’re protecting as many people as possible from coming in contact with it," said Nataly Wissell, acting manager of collections and recycling  at the City of Greater Sudbury.

While Wissell said she can’t confirm how many tests have been collected in the city, she says it’s very important to reiterate that they don’t go anywhere other than the garage.

"They can not be recycled there is some chemicals in there so we don’t want those in the recycling and down the drain. We recommend, the city recommends, not to put anything down the drain. We don’t want that going into our water system," she said

Dorman said there are two hazards associated with the tests, biological and chemical hazards.

"From a biological point of view you could say it's like the contents of a Kleenex so what does it matter except that realistically people are using them because they’re afraid they might have covid, and so there is the possibility that someone handling your disposed kit might pick up covid from it, and so the key message there is that people can’t be recycling them," she said.

Dorman adds that the main chemical of concern is sodium azide.

"So Sodium azide can cause harm to humans. Sodium azide is in the cassette where you run the test and its also in the buffer that you put your swab into and the concentration is quite low but if you splash the buffer with your skin or into your eyes there is a risk that it can cause skin or eye irritation," she said.

Dorman said there is a very small amount of the chemical however she questions the long-term impacts tests could have on an ecological level going into local landfills as it is harmful to aquatic life.

"If we’re now going to have hundreds and thousands of cassettes in our landfills then that recommendation may not be the same. What does a thousand cassettes with 0.1 percent sodium azide in it what’s the risk of that being enough because it’s a harmful chemical," she said.

"We’re just trying to help residents manage the waste as best as they can. There is some biological waste in these after you’ve done the swab obviously so it is probably best that they are handled by a facility  that is approved to handle biological waste but we know that that’s not what’s going to happen residents obviously don’t have easy access to these types of facilities," adds Wissell.

To learn more about how to properly dispose of rapid test kits you can visit the City of Greater Sudbury Waste Wise app.