Around 16,500 needles collected in La Crosse in less than 2 months

One of city’s drop boxes appeared to be smashed

Around 16,500 needled have been collected from the drop boxes throughout La Crosse.

La Crosse County health dir. Jen Rombalski says that amount came in just under two-months time and is around 150 pounds of needles.

“We were hoping to see less needles,” she said. “At this point, we can say we are seeing less, at least according to fire dept. pickup numbers.”

One drop box is located at the Black River boat landing near Clinton St. Another is downtown.

Rombalski said one appeared to be smashed by someone.

“The box was not damaged in a way that individuals could get the needles out of them,” Rombalski said, adding it was fixed within a week of knowing of the problem.