The City of Bloomington will soon install sharps disposal containers at three different public parks.
The Bloomington Board of Park Commissioners approved an agreement to do so on Tuesday. Sharps containers are meant to be disposal boxes for any object that punctures the skin.
Jessica Klein is the Health and Wellness Coordinator for the Bloomington Parks Department. She says the boxes are a response to reports of syringes found on the ground at public parks.
Klein says their goal is to have containers installed at Seminary Square, Butler and Building Trades parks by the end of February. She says the pilot program's success will be based on finding fewer rogue syringes around town.
“I also hope that by doing this we’re reducing the stigma around this topic within our community," she says.
Klein says the Parks Department is modeling their program off of other communities that are working to respond to the opioid epidemic.
For the last year, the Parks Department has been taking data on the numbers and locations of needles found on the ground.
