Needles found at Whitehorse 'reuse store' not an isolated incident

A syringe found earlier this week at the Whitehorse landfill's "reuse store" was not an isolated incident. Needles have also been found in donations at the local Salvation Army thrift store and the refund area at Raven Recycling.

"A few years back we found quite a few needles out there," says George White, the manager at the downtown Salvation Army. "We phoned Blood Ties and they came and disposed of it for us."

Staff now wear gloves and look out for anything suspicious when handling donations.

The incident Monday was the second time a needle had been found at the landfill's facility, which temporarily shut its doors as a result.

"There are a number of issues around this of course," says Joy Snyder, executive director of Raven Recycling. "If they close their reuse store at the landfill then it puts more pressure on Salvation Army and Raven to deal with the material if it comes here."

Snyder says the first time they found a needle, Raven's safety committee came up with a procedure.

"They developed a sharps kit to handle it, it has puncture resistant gloves and a sharps container and a pair of tongs."

Snyder says Raven Recycling is meeting with the City of Whitehorse on Thursday to talk about the safety issues. The Salvation Army won't be attending, but White says he'll follow up to see if any viable solutions come out of the meeting.