Clinical or sharps waste

Find out what clinical and sharps waste includes, how to apply for a collection and when we will collect your waste.

Clinical waste collection

You can set up a clinical waste collection if your waste contains any of the following items:

• Human tissue
• Blood or bodily fluids
• Excretions
• Swabs or dressings
• Large volumes of sanitary waste (such as incontinence pads, catheters or stomach pouches)

Warning If your household is producing more than one or two sacks of clinical waste per week, you may need to order a larger bin

Apply for a clinical waste collection

We collect clinical waste on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, or Thursdays, depending on where you live in the district. We will deliver specially marked clinical waste sacks to you within seven days of receiving your booking request, and you should use these for all of your clinical waste.

Sharps collections

You can book a sharps collection if you need to dispose of any of the following items:

• Syringes
• Needles
• Insulin cartridges
• Finger pricking devices
• Lancets

You must place any sharps inside special sharps boxes, to protect yourself and our teams who handle your waste. You can get these boxes from your pharmacy, or on prescription from your GP.

Warning Never put a sharps box in with your normal rubbish or recycling

Book a sharps collection

We collect sharps boxes on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, or Thursdays, depending on where you live in the district. However, you need to book a sharps collection each time you need one. We recommend that you book a collection when your sharps box is about three-quarters full.