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Clinical and Healthcare Waste
Summary
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Clinical and healthcare wastes may prove hazardous to those that come into contact with them. There are stringent controls in place to ensure that clinical waste is managed safely and is recovered or disposed of without harming the environment or human health.
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In certain circumstances Babergh District Council offers a collection service of clinical and healthcare waste from patients living at home. Sometimes this involves the use of a specialist (yellow) bin or it may involve the provision of a second smaller black domestic refuse bin, exclusively for the additional healthcare waste. Please remember to take advice from your visiting health professional or hospital if you are unsure of what your particular needs will be. In some cases they will arrange a specialist collection service for you. The following advice on how to deal with each type of waste has been produced following liaison with the Senior Infection Control Nurse at the Suffolk East Primary Care Trust.
How to dispose of clinical and healthcare waste
| Type of waste |
What to do with it |
| Wound dressings with minor blood/bodily fluids staining (Less than one 80litre bag per week) |
These can be disposed of in your domestic refuse bin, provided they are double wrapped using plastic bags |
| Heavily soiled dressings or large quantities of low soiled waste (More than one 80 litre bag per week) |
Contact your Primary Care Trust or visiting health professional to arrange for a specialist collection |
| Swabs (soiled cotton wool), Colostomy waste, Incontinence pads, Gloves, Urine Bags, Faeces |
These can be disposed of in your domestic refuse bin, provided they are double wrapped using plastic bags |
| Peritoneal dialysis waste |
If drainage bags are empty they may be disposed of with the household waste after double wrapping using plastic bags |
| Haemo-dialysis waste |
Contact your Primary Care Trust or visiting health professional to arrange for a specialist collection |
| Stoma and urinary catheter bags |
The contents should be fully and carefully emptied down the toilet (taking care not to create a splash back) and flushed away. The emptied bag should then be double wrapped in plastic bags before being placed in the household waste |
| Syringes, needles, cartridges or any other sharp items which have been contaminated with a body fluid |
You must use an approved sharps box (your Primary Care Trust or visiting health professional may give you one of these). You may be able to take your sharps to your local healthcare centre or hospital for disposal). Alternatively contact the Council for a specialist collection |
| Surplus drugs and pharmaceuticals |
Return these to your doctor, pharmacist or hospital |
For further information, or to enquire about the clinical waste service, call the number below.
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External links ...
Department for the Environment, Food & Rural Affairs
Taking action on waste is essential, since we are consuming natural resources at an unsustainable rate and contributing unnecessarily to climate change. Recycling & waste web page
Environment Agency
Learn more about how we manage waste and the processes that support our work. This section contains information on a range of waste-related subjects. Waste web page
Suffolk County Council
Suffolk has an excellent waste service. The local Suffolk Councils have been awarded Beacon Status for having one of the best waste and recycling services in the Country. Energy from Waste in Suffolk web page
Suffolk Recycling
The one-stop shop for all your household waste recycling needs if you are a Suffolk resident. Suffolk Recycling website
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Last updated on: 03 April 2012 | Date of next review: 03 April 2013
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