Health authority getting rid of 559 pallets of expired hand sanitizer

The Saskatchewan Health Authority is trying to get rid of a lot of hand sanitizer.

There are 559 pallets containing more than 354,574 litres of hand sanitizer currently gathering dust in a Regina warehouse.

A public tender notice was posted last month, calling for bids to either recycle or dispose of it. The original closing date for bids was set for Jan. 9, but that’s now been extended to Jan. 13.

According to the notice, much of the sanitizer came from Shanuei and Guangdong in China via New Zealand. Some of it was also made in Canada and sent from Saint John, N.B., and Calgary.

The sanitizer was supplied by the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) as part of a large volume of medical supplies sent across the country throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly during the earlier days when medical supplies were harder to get.

Different parts of the shipment expired on different dates and the materials are all classified as Category 2 and 3 Hazardous Substances.

According to Health Canada, some of the sanitizer sent from Fluid Energy Group in Calgary was recalled in mid-2020, although it’s not clear if any of the product sent to Saskatchewan was part of that recall.

Several requests for an interview were denied by the health authority, and a statement was sent instead.

“While the Saskatchewan Health Authority very much appreciated the PHAC shipment, the SHA was able to source a more effective sanitizer supply in the interests of patient and public safety,” the health authority’s statement read.

The disposal cost for the sanitizer was estimated to be “over $100,000.”

No information was available on where the SHA was able to source its “more effective” supply. It’s also not clear whether the PHAC or the health authority will ultimately pay for the disposal costs.

The health authority said all its health facilities in the province go through 4,000 to 5,000 600-millilitre bottles of hand sanitizer each month.