A nonprofit that Bangor tasked with helping collect syringe litter has had its contract renewed for another year of cleanup services.
Wabanaki Public Health and Wellness staff picked up nearly 8,000 needles in about one year of providing the service, according to city council documents.
Bangor city councilors approved funding for another year of services last week. The program aims to safely dispose of needles left around the city and educate people about proper syringe disposal, issues that have become increasingly relevant amid an HIV outbreak and the city’s ongoing struggle to address homelessness and the opioid epidemic.
The organization collected 3,226 syringes reported by community members, 2,473 from the city’s disposal boxes and 2,140 from city departments like parks and recreation and public works between April 2025 and mid-March 2026, according to the city.
Staff take reports directly via phone and email, and they respond to syringe litter complaints submitted to the city online through the See Click Fix portal.
The program, which is funded through the city with opioid settlement dollars, was under budget in its first year. The services cost about $15,394, Jennifer Gunderman, the city’s public health director, told city councilors — less than a quarter of the up to $66,618 approved by the council last year.
That means the city spent roughly $2 per needle collected.
“It sounds like we got a good deal,” councilor Michael Beck said during a committee meeting this month.
The council allocated up to $60,300 in funding for the upcoming year, allowing for greater flexibility in case demand grows, Gunderman explained.
Wabanaki Public Health and Wellness took over the services after the Health Equity Alliance, commonly referred to as HEAL, lost its contract with the city in 2024 and closed the following year. HEAL was awarded nearly $29,000 to hire a part-time staff member to pick up syringe waste.
“We were very fortunate that they were willing to take on this service,” Gunderman said of Wabanaki Public Health and Wellness.
Lisa Sockabasin, the nonprofit’s co-CEO, did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday.
The group was able to use some leftover supplies from HEAL in the last year, which is part of why it was under budget, according to Gunderman.
Separately from the cleanup contract with the city, Wabanaki Public Health and Wellness also offers needle exchange as one of two syringe service providers in the city. Needlepoint Sanctuary is the other one, and both programs accept used needles brought in by people seeking new sterile injection supplies.
HIV testing, the overdose-reversing medication naloxone and other services for people who use drugs are also available at both programs.
Streetplus ambassadors employed through the Downtown Bangor Partnership also sometimes collect syringe waste and other litter, although they only operate within the downtown district.
In the next year, Gunderman hopes to devise a coordinated needle waste plan along with the other organizations working to address the issue, she told councilors.