Needle dumping protocols developing in La Crosse

There are new strategies moving forward with hypodermic needles found in large amounts in La Crosse.

First responders, health workers and others have had to evaluate needle protocols, after a north side business owner found hundreds of needles in the dumpster outside his office in October.

When that happened, nobody was sure what to do.

“Still working on it but I think we’re further along than we were a month ago,” La Crosse Fire Division Chief Jeff Murphy said.

Murphy said the group is also figuring out how to hook up landlords, and other business owners, with private firms that clean up needle dumping sites.

It doesn’t happen much but, when it does, many business owners would prefer having someone else pick up the needles.

“If they absolutely want to be hands off, we’re trying to find them agencies that they can use,” Murphy said. “There would likely be a cost in some cases.”

Taking those needles out of the dumpster wasn’t an option, and both the Xcel incinerator on French Island and the La Crosse County landfill refused to accept the dumpster.