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Q&A
Status update on Local Law 124 and needle syringe buyback pilot program
0:33:12
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Council Member Linda Lee requests an update on the status of Local Law 124 and the needle syringe and sharps buyback pilot program. Rebecca Linn-Walton provides information on the program's progress and plans.
- The program is set to start in the spring, with contracts being finalized
- The department is working with a successful group from Boston that implemented a similar program
- Boston's program resulted in a 50% reduction in ground syringe litter over four years
- The main metric for success will be the reduction in ground syringe litter
- The program will start by enrolling people from existing Syringe Service Programs (SSPs)
- Eight locations will be used for the pilot program
- An evaluation process is being developed in collaboration with the Boston team
Linda Lee
0:33:12
Okay.
0:33:12
Perfect.
0:33:13
And just switching gears a little bit to local law one twenty four, which I know you talked about briefly, is deputy speaker Ayala's bill and it is set to start in April you said or around spring?
0:33:25
Yeah.
Rebecca Linn-Walton
0:33:26
Okay.
0:33:26
Finalizing contracts.
Linda Lee
0:33:28
Got it, got it.
0:33:29
Okay.
0:33:30
And can you just clarify the status of the needle syringe and sharps buyback pilot program?
0:33:37
So I know you said spring, Are you you know, how is it going to be implemented and also evaluated?
0:33:48
Just out of curiosity because I'm curious to see how we're gonna measure whether or not this is successful.
Rebecca Linn-Walton
0:33:54
Yeah.
0:33:54
So we're really lucky that we're working with the group from Boston who's the only other successful group to have implemented this.
0:34:01
And they've seen a 50% reduction in ground syringe litter in Boston since the program started four years ago.
0:34:07
So for me that's my main metric I'm looking at is ground syringe litter.
0:34:11
So how it's rolling out is in the spring they're going to be working very we've already started working with the SSPs to plan for that.
0:34:18
We want to get people enrolled.
0:34:20
They're starting with enrollment of people who are in SSPs want to be part of that so that they can get enrolled and trained up to do so safely, pick up syringes from the ground or dispose of their own syringes rather than leaving them on the ground.
0:34:34
And so then we'll be rolling it out across more locations.
0:34:37
There's gonna be eight locations, and part of the project is to do an evaluation that we're really excited about.
0:34:43
We're working with Boston.
0:34:44
What are their metrics?
0:34:45
And are there anything that we think they've missed that we can add to it?