How to Dispose of a Used CPAP

A continuous positive airway pressure machine is used by people with sleep apnea to keep them breathing while asleep. Disposal becomes necessary once a machine no longer works, or is no longer needed by the patient. Local regulations differ on acceptable disposal, so check with your trash collection facility. CPAP machines and their cousins, bilevel positive airway pressure machines, are relatively expensive, yet critical pieces of equipment for those with sleep apnea. Many cannot afford the equipment, so recycling is a good idea.

Instructions

• 1

  Donate working CPAPs to charitable organizations that take used durable medical equipment (DME). Get a record of the donation so you can take a tax write-off. Check if your church, mosque or synagogue recycles medical equipment and supplies. If not, it may know of a local organization that does.

• 2

  Contact your Visiting Nurses Association (VNA) for possible recycling. This group often knows how used units are distributed in your community. New units cost at least a couple of thousand dollars and many cost two or three times that. By donating a machine you help someone who otherwise could not afford it.

• 3

  Ask friends and relatives if they know someone who needs a machine. An extra machine comes in very handy for someone who is often away from home. Keeping it in the car or at a relative's house is a real help should she be stuck away from home. For serious apnea sufferers, a night without a machine is not only risking a stroke or death, but results in a raw throat and extreme exhaustion from low oxygen saturation.

• 4

  Check with DME companies. Some give away used machines, others refurbish and resell machines. They may also take non-working machines and repair them for resale. You will not get a tax deduction if you give the unit to a for-profit business.

• 5

  Contact independent and hospital-sponsored sleep labs in your local area. They usually know where and how to donate machines. The American Sleep Apnea Association works with various entities on donation systems for the machines.

• 6

  Do an Internet search for companies that buy or take used machines to refurbish and sell them. Search using keywords such as "used CPAPs."

• 7

  Donate supplies such as new hoses, unused masks and accessories as well as the machines themselves. CPAP masks, hoses and filters must be replaced several times per year to maintain effectiveness, and that can get quite expensive for users.