Clinical Waste

From Wednesday 2^nd January 2019 Tendring District Council will be offering a service for domestic hazardous clinical waste.  This service will be available for all eligible customers who live in the district and self administer medical treatment. If treatment is administered by a medical professional e.g. a nurse, it is their responsibility to dispose of all clinical waste.

Examples of clinical waste include:

• Human tissue
• Blood or other bodily fluids
• Excretions
• Drugs or other pharmaceutical products
• Swabs or dressings
• Syringes, needles or other sharp instruments

Clinical waste falls into two broad categories:-

(1) Waste that can be collected via your normal refuse collections (non-hazardous/offensive waste)
(2) Waste that needs to be collected and disposed of separately (hazardous clinical waste)

Non Hazardous/offensive waste:

This waste can be offensive in appearance and smell; appropriate precautions need to be taken as there is a residual health risk. Provided a healthcare professional confirms in writing it is not hazardous or infectious and the waste is appropriately wrapped, free from excess liquid the risk of ill health is low.

Therefore this waste is both non-infectious and non-hazardous and does not require specialist treatment or disposal, so disposal through your rubbish bin is permitted.

Hygiene waste is:

• Sanitary waste
• Nappies
• Plasters generated by personal use – not by a health care professional
• Incontinence pads
• Catheter and stoma bags
• Non-infectious dressings
• Vomit and soiled human bedding from a non-infectious source
• Nasal secretions, sputum, condoms and urine
• Medical disposable equipment such as gowns etc
• And other waste produced from human hygiene

Hazardous clinical waste:

Infectious waste and sharps: This is waste which requires specialist collection and disposal to prevent infection, such waste includes:

• Waste from infectious disease cases
• Waste from wound infections and other acquired infections
• Human hygiene products from infectious cases and all related soiled surgical dressings
• Swabs and other similar waste
• Sharps – these are items that could cause cuts or puncture wounds, including:  Hypodermic Needles, Syringes with needles attached, Scalpels and other blades. This includes sharps that are self administered.

We will not collect any Hypodermic needles that are not contained within a proper sharps box which are available on prescription.  Waste produced by treatment administered by a medical professional becomes their responsibility to dispose of.

To set up arrangements for this service please complete the Healthcare Waste Collection Referral Form which will also need to be completed by a healthcare practitioner.  Once returned to us and processed, your contact details will be passed to our contractor who will contact you to arrange collection.