Care Home Waste Management
Business Waste arranges care home waste management across the UK, covering food waste, recycling, general waste and agreed clinical and hygiene waste streams. We help residential and nursing homes organise containers and collections around residents’ care, kitchen routines and available storage.
Get free standard collection bins and delivery, so you only pay for collection. Tell us the care you provide and the waste you produce, and we’ll confirm suitable containers and collection frequencies.
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Get your care home waste management quote
Get a fast FREE quote for care home waste collection
- Clinical, hygiene and everyday waste services
- Containers matched to your waste streams
- Collection frequencies agreed for your home
- Free standard bins and delivery
Waste services for residential and nursing homes
Arrange collections for the waste produced in resident areas, treatment rooms, kitchens and offices. Depending on your home’s needs, we can provide:
- Clinical waste collections for agreed infectious waste streams.
- Offensive and sanitary waste services for suitable non-infectious hygiene waste.
- Sharps containers and collections matched to the contamination present.
- Food waste collections from kitchens and dining areas.
- Recycling and general waste collections for everyday materials.
- Suitable collection schedules, based on each stream’s volume and storage needs.
What types of waste do care homes produce?
The waste your care home produces depends on the care provided, residents’ needs and facilities such as kitchens and treatment rooms.
Some of the main types of waste care homes produce, and examples of each include:
- Infectious clinical waste: materials assessed as presenting an infection risk.
- Offensive waste: suitable non-infectious hygiene materials without pharmaceutical or chemical contamination.
- Sharps: needles, lancets and other agreed healthcare sharps.
- Medicines: unwanted or expired products, including cytostatic and cytotoxic materials, require the appropriate medicines disposal route.
- Food waste: preparation waste and meal leftovers.
- Dry recycling: accepted empty packaging, paper and cardboard.
- General waste: non-recyclable materials that do not require a specialist stream.
- Textiles: suitable discarded bedding, towels and clothing, subject to condition and acceptance.
How do care home collections work?
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Tell us about your home
Share your postcode, the care provided, waste streams and existing storage arrangements.
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Agree containers and collections
We confirm suitable products, accepted materials, charges and collection frequencies.
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Separate and store each stream
Staff use the designated containers and follow the home’s waste and infection-control procedures.
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We arrange collection and paperwork
Registered carriers collect the agreed waste, with the relevant transfer or consignment documentation.
Clinical and offensive waste from care homes
Clinical waste is one of the most regulated waste streams. Items such as used dressings, swabs, soiled PPE, and incontinence products with bodily fluids can all pose an infection risk.
It’s important not to put clinical waste in general waste bins. Under HTM 07-01 (the UK healthcare waste management guidance), care homes must segregate clinical waste using the colour-coded bag and container system:
- Orange bags for non-infectious clinical waste.
- Yellow bags (and yellow/black striped for hazardous) for infectious or potentially infectious waste.
- Purple bags and containers for cytotoxic and cytostatic pharmaceutical waste.
We’ll advise on appropriate bags, containers, and colour-coded equipment. Collection frequency depends on the waste stream, how quickly containers fill and the storage arrangements at your home. Read our clinical waste guidance for more detail on segregation and collection.
How care home waste is treated
Treatment depends on the waste classification. Suitable everyday materials go for recycling, while food waste can follow an appropriate biological treatment route. Specialist healthcare waste goes to facilities authorised to accept and treat that stream.
Medicine disposal arrangements differ between residential and nursing homes. Follow your medicines policy and confirm the correct return or collection route with your pharmacist and waste contractor. Controlled drugs have additional requirements.
We prioritise recovery and recycling where suitable, with landfill avoided where possible.
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Efficient communication
We have worked alongside Business Waste for quite a few months now, and their efficiency with communication and resolving queries is great. Allie especially is a pleasure to liaise with. Great company from a B2B perspective
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The service received was simply outstanding. Business Waste gave good advice and a demonstration of a willingness to help and get me a solution.
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Great company
Great company to deal with, special thanks to Danielle who is always on the ball and sort any issues out instantly with proactive involvement with follow up phone calls and emails. I would recommend her to be the next PM to get things done, oh and as a company to deal with all the waste needs for your business.
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I was impressed by the speed of setting up the service. I made a single phone call to Business Waste and all the necessary paperwork was done efficiently.
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Bins and containers for care homes
Nursing homes need a wide range of bins in various sizes to hold different waste types both inside and outside the facility. Provide suitable hygiene waste containers where residents and staff need them, with arrangements that reflect the waste produced and your infection-control procedures.
Bins should be clearly labelled, easy for staff to access, secure between collections, and positioned away from resident areas where possible. Our expert team can advise you on the best bins for your care home waste management needs. Explore some common bins used to store waste from nursing and care homes.
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240L wheelie bin
Can be for just food or glass waste, or to store four to five bags of general or recycling waste.
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Sanitary waste bins
Available in various sizes to use in the bathrooms around your care home for both residents and staff.
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Cytotoxic and cytostatic waste bags
Purple waste bags for PPE, patches, and disposable garments contaminated by cytotoxic and cytostatic medicines.
Care home waste management plans
A care home waste management plan helps staff handle waste consistently across the site. It should set out what waste streams your care home produces, how each one is separated, where bins are stored, and how often collections take place.
A clear plan should also cover duty of care paperwork, staff training, spill procedures, sharps incidents, and steps to reduce contamination. Business Waste Ltd can help review your care home’s waste setup and arrange the right bins, containers, and collection schedule for each waste stream.
Care home waste responsibilities and paperwork
Care homes have the responsibility to ensure correct waste classification and secure storage on site. Further, they must organise collections through authorised waste carriers and obtain accurate transfer or consignment records.
We can help by providing waste transfer notes for eligible non-hazardous collections, included at no additional charge. Specialist streams receive the documentation required for their classification.
In England, care homes already in scope of Simpler Recycling must separate food waste, dry recyclables and general waste before collection. Organisations with fewer than 10 full-time employees have until March 31st, 2027. Our in-house team will advise on your responsibilities.
Digital waste tracking is being introduced in stages. The first mandatory phase applies to relevant waste-receiving facilities, rather than ordinary care homes producing waste. Continue keeping the required transfer and consignment records.
Arrange care home waste collection
At Business Waste, we can provide free bins for your care home or nursing home to safely store every type of waste you produce. Simply select the type, size, and number of bins you need, and we’ll deliver them to your care home anywhere in the UK.
A dedicated account manager can help review your current waste setup to identify contamination risks, overfilled bins, missed recycling opportunities, and collection schedules that may need adjusting.
Care home waste FAQs
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How should you dispose of controlled drugs in a care home in England?
Controlled drugs refer to types of medicines that must be safely administered, stored, or disposed of. This is because they have the potential to be dangerous if they fall into the wrong hands – they could be misused or sold illegally, for example.
Care and nursing homes in England often handle lots of different drugs and medications to provide proper care for their patients. However, for many reasons, they’re also responsible for ensuring the drugs are properly disposed of.
You may need to dispose of medication for the following reasons:
- Patient death (drugs can only be given to the person they were prescribed)
- Drugs past expiry date
- Changes in treatment
You can keep track of what medicine needs to be disposed of and when by ensuring your records are up to date. When opening controlled drugs, check their expiry date and how long they remain useful when open.
The process of disposing of drugs is straightforward. They simply need to be returned to the supplier, such as a local pharmacy or doctors’ surgery. They’ll dispose of them properly. Drugs should not be thrown away with general rubbish.
We can help you with any type of specialist waste disposal produced by your nursing or care establishment. This includes confidential waste, which is disposed of responsibly and with due care.
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What hazardous substances are in a care home?
Most hazardous substances in a care home are related to the medical care provided. From drugs and medicines to any PPE that gets contaminated with it, it can all require proper hazardous waste disposal to protect human health and the environment. It’s important all care home staff are aware of the hazardous substances present and proper storage and disposal methods.
The main types of hazardous substances in a care home can include:
- Expired or unused medicines
- PPE contaminated with hazardous substances
- Bandages, dressings, and wipes
- Cleaning products
- Solvents and paints
- Chemical waste
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Whose responsibility is it to ensure waste is correctly disposed of in care?
Under the Environmental Protection Act 1990 it’s the responsibility of any business that produces, keeps, stores, transports, or disposes of waste to ensure it’s done properly. This includes care homes as they class as a business and generate what’s referred to as controlled waste.
Therefore, it’s your responsibility to ensure all care home waste you produce is stored, removed, and disposed of in a safe, legal, and environmentally friendly manner. Even when it’s left your care home, you still have a responsibility for the waste, so should use licensed waste carriers to guarantee proper steps are followed for its transport and disposal.
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Does the CQC inspect care homes?
Yes. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) assesses waste management practices during care home inspections as part of its evaluation.
Inspectors typically look for:
- Correct waste segregation with clearly labelled containers
- Evidence of staff training on waste handling
- Duty of Care documentation
- Correct storage of clinical and pharmaceutical waste
We’ll provide the documentation, colour-coded equipment, and evidence that care homes need to demonstrate CQC compliance.
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What is Digital Waste Tracking and does it apply to care homes?
Digital Waste Tracking (DWT) is Defra’s new mandatory system for recording waste movements. From October 2026, all licensed waste sites must log waste transactions within 48 hours through the DWT system.
Care homes that produce clinical, pharmaceutical, or other regulated waste will be affected.
We’ll prepare your site for DWT compliance and ensure all collections are fully documented within the new system.
Get your care home waste management quote
Get a fast FREE quote for care home waste collection
- Clinical, hygiene and everyday waste services
- Containers matched to your waste streams
- Collection frequencies agreed for your home
- Free standard bins and delivery
Published 12th April 2022 by Mark Hall. Last modified 23rd October 2026