New York City is full of a bunch of pricks.<\/p>\n
The rise of GLP-1 drugs has led to a sharp uptick in injuries among Big Apple sanitation workers \u2014 thanks to needles being carelessly tossed in the trash.<\/p>\n
So far in 2026, 57 needle-stick injuries have been reported among city Department of Sanitation workers \u2014 already exceeding the 51 recorded in all of 2025 and the 37 reported in 2024.<\/p>\n
Only 25 workers were pricked in 2019.<\/p>\n
NYC Sanitation workers are are getting stuck with needles from weight-loss meds. Lone Pine Press for NY Post<\/p>\n
There\u2019s already been 56 needle injuries among Sanitation workers this year. Getty Images<\/p>\n
Brooklyn has reported the most cases this year, with 16, followed by the Bronx and Queens, with 11 each.<\/p>\n
Staten Island, despite being the city\u2019s smallest borough by population, has recorded 10 injuries.<\/p>\n
Manhattan has recorded nine.<\/p>\n
New York\u2019s Strongest now wants to boost the fine for careless disposal from $100 to $250 to discourage users from placing loose needles in household trash.<\/p>\n
While DSNY does not keep data on the types of needles involved in the injuries, a department spokesperson said the GLP-1 craze could be to blame.<\/p>\n
A Gallup survey conducted from May through June found that 11% of US adults were currently taking a GLP-1 for weight loss.<\/p>\n
Trilliant Health analyzed claims for three popular weight loss drugs \u2014 Ozempic, Wegovy and Mounjaro \u2013across 34 New York City neighborhoods in 2022.<\/p>\n
It found the city\u2019s highest rate of GLP-1 use was in the Upper East Side down to Gramercy area, where 231 people per 10,000 residents were using the drugs. Within that group, around 68% of GLP-1 users were female, the average patient was 49.6 years old and about 27% had Type 2 diabetes.<\/p>\n
Trilliant Health analyzed claims for Ozempic, Wegovy and Mounjaro across 34 New York City neighborhoods in 2022. Trilliant Health<\/p>\n
DSNY advised New Yorkers to place used needles in a leak-proof, puncture-resistant container, such as an empty laundry detergent bottle, before throwing them away. NYCSanitation<\/p>\n
The lowest rate was in the neighborhoods of East New York and New Lots, where 121 people per 10,000 residents used GLP-1s. In that group, the average patient was 53.5 years old and around 74% had diabetes.<\/p>\n
The fine would apply to improperly discarded \u201cregulated household waste,\u201d including objects used to administer medication that can cut or puncture someone, such as syringes with attached needles.<\/p>\n
DSNY advised New Yorkers to place used needles in a leak-proof, puncture-resistant container, such as an empty laundry detergent bottle, before throwing them away.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New York City is full of a bunch of pricks. The rise of GLP-1 drugs has led to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":326109,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[8991,57,9,24,56,63,65,64,3610,8992,58,29764],"class_list":["post-326108","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-department-of-sanitation","tag-metro","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-headlines","tag-nyc-news","tag-public-health","tag-sanitation-department","tag-us-news","tag-weight-loss"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326108","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=326108"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326108\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/326109"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=326108"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=326108"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=326108"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}