Ottawa has 82 needle drop box locations for proper disposal of used needles, such this one outside the Sandy Hill Community Health Centre. Photo © Kevin Martine.
Reports of used needles being discarded on Ottawa streets and sidewalks have quadrupled in the last five years, according to an analysis of data obtained from the city through a municipal freedom-of-information request.
Records of calls from residents to the city’s 311 line from the start of 2013 to July 2019 show that complaints to the city about discarded needles on city streets have risen steadily from 46 in 2013 to 180 in 2018, with nearly 100 already in the first six months of this year.
This chart depicts the number of 311 calls city-wide each year about needles discarded onto city sidewalks and streets. The number of calls has been trending upwards in recent years.
Michael Ferguson, manager of Ottawa Public Health’s Health Hazard Response team, cautions that the numbers change from year to year, and that more 311 calls do not necessarily mean more needles are actually on the streets.
“In the middle of this opioid crisis, there’s been a lot more media attention and there’s been a lot more education, so people might be more aware of what they can do when they find a needle compared to five years ago,” he said.
Ferguson advises that anyone who sees a needle on the streets to either call Ottawa’s 311 line so city staff can pick it up, or else carefully follow the city’s needle guidelines by picking it up with tongs and placing it in a hard-sided container. The city usually tries to respond to 311 calls within an hour of the call.
Ferguson said discarded needles pose a variety of health hazards, but one of the most common injuries is stabbing from the sharp needle point.
“The immediate risk is someone getting a needle stick injury,” he said, advising anyone who has been injured by a needle to seek medical attention.
According to additional data published by Ottawa Public Health, roughly 1.7 million needles are used and collected in the city each year, the vast majority of which are disposed of safely.
“It’s usually somewhere around one per cent of needles that are improperly discarded,” Ferguson said.
While Ferguson says that people should not place used needles in the regular trash, the city does have 82 drop boxes across the city where residents can dispose of their needles safely. Residents can also bring needles to a household hazardous waste depot operated by the city.
A map depicting the locations of all 82 needle drop boxes in Ottawa. Map plotted by Kevin Martine. Data Source: Ottawa Public Health.
Ottawa Public Health data shows that over 950,000 needles were collected through the drop boxes last year. Most of the remaining 800,000 needles were collected through other government programs and partnerships, such as Ottawa’s publicly-run safe injections sites and needle exchanges.
The city also has a dedicated program to pro-actively collect discarded needles from the streets, called Needle Hunters. Through a partnership with Causeway Work Centre, a non-profit that helps the unemployed re-enter the workforce, the city hires people part-time to patrol the city for used needles. The program collected roughly 20,000 needles in 2018.
Rachel McKeen, a spokesperson for Causeway, says that many of the workers in the needle hunter program are either homeless or at risk of homelessness.
“It’s an opportunity for them to earn a steady income, and to feel pride in the work that they’re doing and to feel a sense of belonging and accomplishment,” McKeen said.
McKeen said there were about 40 needle hunters last year. They work two-hour shifts each day, including weekends.
While the majority of the 311 calls since 2013 came from downtown wards such as Rideau-Vanier and Somerset, calls came in from every ward in the city. Rideau-Vanier led with 267 calls between 2013 and 2018, followed by Somerset with 112.