Found needle prompts closure of Whitehorse 'reuse store'

The City of Whitehorse has temporarily closed its "reuse store" at the city landfill this week, after staff found a syringe in a pile of donated clothing — for the second time.

"Kind of a definite red flag," said Dave Albisser, the city's manager of water and waste. "It not being the first one, really gave us some concerns about how we operate that facility."

"Of course, it's found in amongst the clothing which we put there for people to go through, so it's a risky thing to see."

Albisser says the syringe was found as staff were cleaning the reuse store, which occupies a garage at the landfill site. City residents regularly drop off useable items there, that might otherwise be thrown out.

Bio-medical waste is banned from Yukon landfills and has special rules for proper disposal. Such waste is typically segregated and treated (for example, sterilized, contained, or incinerated) by a permitted waste handler before it is disposed of.

A city staff member was able to safely dispose of the syringe, but the last time a needle was found at the reuse store, a worker was "poked" and went to hospital to get checked out, Albisser said.

"We want to have a good look at how that facility is managed and we need to look at whether we can do this better and how we can do this better, or if the only option is to shut it down."

Albisser says operating the "store" is not as simple as it might seem. He says staff find and deal with sharp objects and other unsafe items "on a semi-frequent basis."

He says Whitehorse will look at how other communities manage their reuse or free stores and hopefully make some improvements. He expects the facility to re-open next week, but a decision won't be made until later this week.

"I totally recognize that this is a valuable community service, I think everybody does, but if we offer a service like that we need to make sure that the public is safe."