Which items belong in the sharps container?

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Sharps containers are for items that could puncture skin or the container itself. Only objects that pose a puncture risk—like needles, syringes with needles, lancets, and broken sharps—belong there. Paper towels are soft and non-sharp, so they go with regular waste unless they're contaminated enough to be biohazard waste. Gloves and bandages are contaminated waste but not sharps, so they should go in the appropriate waste stream (regular or biohazard) rather than in a sharps container. Non-sharp medical waste isn’t a puncture risk either, so it isn’t placed in the sharps container. Therefore, the item that belongs in the sharps container is anything puncture risk.