New York City is full of a bunch of pricks.
The rise of GLP-1 drugs has led to a sharp uptick in injuries among Big Apple sanitation workers — thanks to needles being carelessly tossed in the trash.
So far in 2026, 57 needle-stick injuries have been reported among city Department of Sanitation workers — already exceeding the 51 recorded in all of 2025 and the 37 reported in 2024.
Only 25 workers were pricked in 2019.
Brooklyn has reported the most cases this year, with 16, followed by the Bronx and Queens, with 11 each.
Staten Island, despite being the city’s smallest borough by population, has recorded 10 injuries.
Manhattan has recorded nine.
New York’s Strongest now wants to boost the fine for careless disposal from $100 to $250 to discourage users from placing loose needles in household trash.
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.
A Gallup survey conducted from May through June found that 11% of US adults were currently taking a GLP-1 for weight loss.
Trilliant Health analyzed claims for three popular weight loss drugs — Ozempic, Wegovy and Mounjaro –across 34 New York City neighborhoods in 2022.
It found the city’s 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.
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.
The fine would apply to improperly discarded “regulated household waste,” including objects used to administer medication that can cut or puncture someone, such as syringes with attached needles.
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.
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