Three new needle disposal bins are being installed across the city.
According to a news release from the City of Timmins and Porcupine Health Unit, new kiosks are going in this week.
The locations are near the Timmins Public Library and transit buildings, at the corner of Father Costello Drive and Vipond Road in Schumacher, and one by the transit stop in South Porcupine. A bin near the Spruce Street parking lot is also being moved to a more suitable area.
"We want to encourage all individuals who use needles for drugs or medication administration to dispose of them in a safe way," said Mary France Caron-Bruneau, PHU public health nurse and sexual harm/harm reduction program co-ordinator, in a news release.
“There are many ways to do this. Pharmacies have a program that provides sharps containers and accepts returns of these containers. The health unit also provides sharps containers and accepts returns through our Harm Reduction Program. If needles are found in the community, individuals can safely dispose of them through our Harm Reduction Program, in the disposal bins after hours and on weekends or they can call us to get a community clean-up kit which includes instructions on how to safely handle needles, a sharps container and a pair of tongs.”
The first needle disposal unit was installed in 2018 outside the health unit on Pine Street South. Two additional units were added last summer at two parking lots — Spruce and Algonquin, and Cedar and Algonquin.
According to the announcement, the bins "have the potential of being moved if necessary."
