Clinical Waste Collections

Posted on 3 May 2022

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Non-hazardous clinical waste

Non-hazardous clinical waste can be disposed of as normal household waste in your black refuse bin.

We recommend that non-hazardous waste is double bagged to ensure no leakages.

Types of non-hazardous clinical waste include:

Sanitary towels
Nappies and incontinence pads - unless the person / child has a medical condition that requires them to be treated as hazardous clinical waste
Incontinence bed pads
Stoma bags
Catheter bags
Minor first aid dressings

This excludes waste from medical treatments.

What needs to be collected and disposed of separately

Infectious waste needs to be disposed of separately which is incinerated to prevent the spread of infection. Examples include:

Waste from infectious disease cases
Waste from wound infections and other acquired infections
Human hygiene products and dressings from infectious cases
All sharps' including hypodermic needles and syringes with needles attached.

Infectious waste is collected separately from your normal waste in specially provided sacks. Collections are provided free of charge and the frequency of collections is dependent on the needs of each case.

Infectious waste is collected weekly on a Wednesday.

Sharps' Boxes

Sharps' boxes are collected monthly on a Wednesday. If you are unsure which Wednesday in the month your sharps' box collection is due, please contact us on 01438 242242.

If you require a new sharps' container, please note that these are the standard 5 litre containers.

You can use the form below to request a new sharps' box, a collection or an exchange.

Request a sharps' box collection or clinical waste collection - opens new window

Residents under the care of a health professional

If you are treated at home by a community nurse or a member of the NHS profession, the health professional should remove any waste produced as a result and take it back to the trust base for appropriate disposal.

Clinical waste sack collection

We offer a separate clinical waste collection, which is free, where the quantity of healthcare waste is seven black bags or more per week or where the waste has been identified by a healthcare professional as infectious.