Shock after dozens of dumped needles wash up near Kanahooka playground

A father of two was walking along the waterline with his young children when they came dangerously close to stepping on a capped syringe on Thursday, March 21.

The paraphernalia was dumped just 100 metres from the children's playground and community barbecue at Lakeside Reserve, near the corner of Lakeside Drive and Edgeworth Avenue.

The Koonawarra father, who asked not to be named, lives just a few minutes from the picturesque waterway and his family walks the shoreline and plays in the park regularly.

"I was taking the kids for a walk along the beach and looking under rocks and we walked along the beach a bit further and spotted a bunch of needles," he said.

"I kicked the kids off the beach and started cleaning them up."

When the Mercury spoke to the man, he'd already filled a discarded beer bottle with syringes and hand a handful of others. He found around 30 in total.

He also found three bright yellow sharps containers, empty syringe packets, skin swabs and vials labelled 'water for injections'.

"I take the kids to the park all the time ... I hope nobody picked them up ]medical waste] and decided to throw them in there," he said. "Don't leave it for somebody else, especially in these high-trafficked spots."

Syringes have been found near the Lake in the past, including when a mum-of-two found 30 used syringes, bloodied cotton buds and a metal spoon in Koonawarra; and separately, a slew of needs were found in Bellambi.

On Monday, March 25, when the Mercury revisited the Lake all traces of the medical waste was gone, but other park users were left in shock.

Kanahooka resident Dean Zorn and his children Remy, aged three, and one-year-old Della, only moved to the suburb six weeks ago.

"It's the first time I've heard about this," he said of the syringes. "We keep a pretty close eye on the kids anyway, but I guess we'll have to think twice when they're near the water."

Dapto couple Bob and Cine Wiszniowski had chosen Lakeside Reserve to bring their friends from the United States when they heard about the discarded medical waste.

"You have the odd one [syringe], but usually it's nice and people are really good," Mrs Wiszniowski said.

"It's very, very rare to see something like that."

Koonawarra resident Joseph Struzka has lived in the area for 40 years, and was at the park with his granddaughter Piper, aged six, on Monday.

"I walk through that area, it's usually every morning and I've never seen anything like this. I'm very surprised," he said.

Wollongong and Shellharbour councils said no reports of syringes around the lake foreshore have been received.

"We encourage residents and visitors to use the appropriate bin in public places, including sharps bins found in lots of our toilet amenities as well as our city libraries and community centres," a Wollongong City Council spokesman said.

Health experts advise people to leave needles and not to attempt to dispose of them.

They should contact the NSW Needle Clean-Up Hotline via 1800 633 353.

Non-hazardous rubbish dumped in public areas should be reported to local councils.

Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District (ISLHD) manages the disposal of clinical waste in line with the NSW Health policy directive, Clinical and Related Waste Management for Health Services.

The NSW Needle and Syringe Program (NSP) has been in place since 1986 and is an evidence-based public health program that aims to reduce the transmission of blood-borne viruses, including hepatitis C and HIV within at-risk population groups, including people who inject drugs.

NSP outlets provide free, sterile injecting equipment in a range of locations to reduce the sharing of injecting equipment. All authorised NSP outlets provide safe disposal services to reduce the potential for injury.

There are also large, yellow community sharps disposal bins at select locations such as selected community health centres and public hospitals. .

NSP outlets also provide information and guidance on the safe disposal of sharps, including providing the location of community sharps disposal bins for the disposal of used injecting equipment.

More than 600 pharmacies in NSW also participate in the Pharmacy NSP, which provide sterile injecting equipment, a personal use sharps container and safe disposal of user injecting equipment.

The District works closely with stakeholders in health, local government and law enforcement, sharing responsibility to reduce the risk of people encountering sharps in the community.

For more information about the NSW Health community sharps management, hit this link.