Only 16 dirty needles out of 13,000 distributed to drug users were disposed of safely last year in Glasgow.

The shock figures were released as plans were unveiled for Glasgow City Centre to house the UK's first drug injecting facility.

The city's Alcohol and Drug Partnership are considering the radical proposal to tackle rising HIV cases amongst drug users and risk to the public from discarded needles.

Read more: Plans for UK's first drug injecting centre in Glasgow

Current estimates suggest some 500 people are injecting drugs in public places in the city centre.

Last year police and council staff in Glasgow dealt with hundreds of instances of discarded needles.

Public health chiefs said Scotland was "decades behind" other European countries in tackling problem drug use.

Research has shown that such facilities do not increase drug use, frequency of injecting or higher rates of local drug-related crime.

Susanne Miller, chair of the Alcohol Drugs Partnership said: “We need to make our communities safer for all people living in and visiting the city, including those who publicly inject.

“Last year, the Assertive Outreach Team dealing with homeless injectors distributed almost 13,000 sterile needles.

“Of that number, only 16 or 0.1 per cent of the used needles were returned to an injecting equipment centre for safe disposal.”

Read more: Undercover police tackling heroin trade on Calton streets

Habitual public injectors’ are at risk of blood-borne viruses, overdose and drug-related death, and other injecting-related complications such as serious bacterial infections.

Last year saw an HIV outbreak in the city with 47 new infections compared to the previously consistent annual average of 10.

There have also been several other outbreaks of serious infectious diseases such as botulism and anthrax.

Scottish Conservative shadow secretary for health Donald Cameron said: “There is no question that heroin addiction remains a major problem facing society today.

“It’s a challenging issue and we think abstinence-based programmes requiring complete co-operation of the state and the individual are the best way of helping people beat this terrible drug.

“Whilst we accept the necessity of keeping needles off our streets, Scotland does not want to risk tackling this problem with programmes which encourage injecting and drug use.”

Dr Emilia Crighton, director of Public Health at NHSGGC, and vice chair of the ADP, said: “We are decades behind other countries in the way we tackle this problem.

"In line with our current research, it’s clear we need to move beyond the current model in order to meet the needs of our communities and this very vulnerable group.

“In recent years Glasgow has been at the centre of outbreaks of anthrax, botulism and most recently HIV infection in people who inject drugs.

“This public injecting group has high rates of hospital admissions, incarceration and homelessness.

"Conventional treatment and services have not been as effective as we would want in reducing health risks and the resulting costs.

“Our ultimate goal is for drug users to recover from their addiction and remain drug free.

“However, until someone is ready to seek and receive help to stop using drugs it is important to keep them as safe as possible while do they continue to use drugs.”