What to do with empty boxes?

Has anyone found a way to dispose of the empty boxes from the peritoneal dialysis supplies other than
recycling? Any market for those?

These boxes are super sturdy, and great for folks who are moving, and someone is ALWAYS moving. Look in your area for a Freecycle.org groupā€“most communities have them. Freecycle is a non-profit set up to help keep things out of landfills. You can offer up the boxes, and someone who is interested will come and pick them up. If you have a covered porch to leave them on, you never even have to see the person or let them into your home.

I just collapse the boxes, and store them until my supplies are replenished every month. The delivery guy takes the collapsed boxes, as well as re-supplying my Baxter consumables.

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This is really good to know about Baxter. I wonder if Fresenius does the same thing.

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Can I suggest you visit www.greendialysis.org and then the Home Dialysis tab, then scroll to Waste Management, then scroll to find cardboard box reuse. Indeed.
The entire ~100 page site is devoted to eco-sensitive and sustainable dialysis.
John Agar

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Following up from @John_Agarā€™s reply.

Gardeners, particularly those following a ā€˜no digā€™ method will always be on the lookout for cardboard.

Other cardboard is recycled at street collection level (here in the UK anyway)

It seems that the website http://www.greendialysis.org is a Fresenius site, it also looks like it is for Austrailia not the US.

So does anyone else have a creative way to get rid all the plastic? Boxes are easy to deal with, I just take them to a recycling center or keep them for my next move.

Kind Regards Cynthia

The Green Dialysis website is NOT a Fresenius site. You can read about the team who started it at https://www.greendialysis.org/about/the-green-nephrology-action-team.

According to the Green Dialysis website, Baxter in Australia has a program to recycle PD plastic bags and lines. If they can do it in Australia, Iā€™d think they could do it in the U.S. Since Fresenius says it supports the Green Dialysis Initiative, maybe it would help if patients and professionals would advocate with the corporations that make their dialysis supplies to promote/support recycling of non-infectious materialsā€¦

F is one of the sponsors of Green Dialysis which is part of the Green Nephrology Network, part of the Centre for Sustainable Healthcare, made up of doctors, staff , some patients, renal techs (or mechanics as they are known in the US!)

Being on heamo, my delivery in the UK is from Fresenius. Plastic goes to local authority, waste here in the UK, and varies from county to county (UK states! LOL) Most single use plastic goes to landfill, but our dialysis waste (apart from cardboard) goes out in clinical waste to be incinerated.

Perhaps join in on the discussions on their forum. https://networks.sustainablehealthcare.org.uk/network/green-nephrology

As someone who has serious concerns about the climate crisis and my own footprint in the world, time for discussion and action is now! :slight_smile:

A few letters to CEOā€™s never did any harm.

Regarding the boxes, I recycle most of them, but also give some to friends that are moving. However, I would like to find a way to recycle the plastic as well. I live in the U.S. but havenā€™t found a way to do that. If anyone knows someplace in Dallas, TX that will take the plastic tubing and cassettes, please let me know.

The plastic tubing and cassettes are contaminated with blood and considered medical waste. There isnā€™t recycling for them. However, the Green Dialysis website in Australia discusses what patients on home dialysis there can do to go ā€œgreen.ā€ Surely some of these things could be done in the U.S. too.

Iā€™m 22 & Iā€™ve been on home dialysis since I was 11 years old and Iā€™ve always struggled to get rid of my empty Baxter boxes especially the big ones it was very stressful.

But If you live in London I recently started a business which is specifically made to collect the Baxter boxes and plastic. What we do is we will come to your home with our van twice a month for a small fee, remove the empty boxes and plastic if needed & take it to a recycling plant. If you would like to know more just search for Dialysis Box Collectors and our website should come up :blush:

What a great idea! I wish someone would do that here in the U.S. We get SO many requests for what to doā€¦

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Thank you so much! Hopefully one day I can expand the service to the US and bring help over there too :pray:

I buy/pick them up to store loose sticks in my coolerdorā€¦ and my wife uses them for craft boxesā€¦ storage of sewing stuffā€¦ and she has even made handbags out of some. Most B&Ms around here sell wooden boxes for $1 to $5ā€¦ cardboard for $0.50 to $1 or so. Might be worth keeping a few aroundā€¦ just my

Hi! Weā€™ve been taking our dialysis boxes to our local food pantry. They are the perfect size and the need for them is great.