Following up on this, I've done a quick Google search, and lots of local authorities seem to have policies for dealing with this type of situation, e.g. Melbourne, Blaby, and Lewisham. So, if you can find the appropriate phone number for your local area and store it in your phone, that might be useful.

One other idea is to use a rigid plastic bottle as a temporary solution; if you carry a bottle of water around, you could empty it out and drop the needle into that, rather than holding it directly.