More than 100 million sharps containers have been kept out of landfills through Stericycle’s sharps management service, the company announced.

The sharps management program began in 1986. Stericycle containers are sent to one of the company’s treatment facilities where the containers are robotically opened, emptied and disinfected. The containers are then inspected and returned to a healthcare facility for reuse.

“One reusable sharps container can be utilized 600 times, preventing 600 disposable containers from going to landfills,” said Debra Gillmeister, Stericycle’s director of healthcare services, in a statement.