Today is Earth Day and having grown up in an environmentally responsible household, I consciously make green decisions throughout my day. Turning off lights here, not wasting water there, paper over plastic… any little thing that I know eventually adds up in a big way. A difficult part of deciding on a pump, however, was the green impact it carried along with it. The OmniPod was designed to be worn for three days and then hucked in the trash… really? What a waste. The combination of a circuit board, metal moving parts, plastic shell and multiple batteries inside each pod end up as another clutter in the growing landfills. And even though throwing away packaging and plastic parts and batteries weighed on my pumping decision, it inevitably was not the deciding factor.

I called customer service and inquired about any sort of recycling program they had in place, hoping it was possible to send back expired pods for recycling, but could only be guided to my local resources as an option. It became quickly clear that I was left to my own devices if these pods had any chance of a second life.

I have not thrown away a pod yet. Over the past four months I have acquired forty pods, all resting atop my dresser in a cardboard box. It was not until two days ago that I came up with a plan of action for them. I decided the best I could do was remove the batteries, and recycle them… at least avoiding poisonous chemicals and gasses leaching into the ground and atmosphere. A couple whacks with a hammer, and a screwdriver pried between the separated plastic, set the cavity open and the batteries exposed. A little more screwdriver work and they were out. In all, it took about twenty minutes to pull out 160 small batteries from forty pods. Next stop, the recycling center. (And don’t stack the batteries in a big pile like I did… it completes an electrical circuit and they get really, really hot!)

I also decided to pony up a little extra money for rechargeable batteries and a charging box. About once a month the PDM batteries die out and need to be replaced. This way, with two pairs of batteries in rotation, one pair of AAA’s can be powering the main unit and one pair can be recharged. It will pay for itself in no time, and will help the environment immediately with fewer batteries ending up in the dump.

Diabetes management carries with it a multitude of ways to stay healthy, and unfortunately, many leave a trail of waste while doing so. For me though, personal health will always be the most important thing when managing diabetes day in and day out but I keep looking for ways to do my share in this environmentally troubled time. For every small impact each of us have on the Earth, good and bad, there will be big repercussions for future generations to come… something that should not be forgotten.