Medical Waste
Medical waste is a type of clinical waste that covers any rubbish produced in a medical setting. This includes waste created in hospitals, doctors’ surgeries, GP practices, and other healthcare facilities. All medical waste must be stored, removed, and disposed of safely and in line with relevant regulations to protect human health and the environment.
Discover a wide range of solutions and services to help your medical organisation dispose of all waste you produce. At Business Waste, we provide free bins to store medical waste securely on your premises – you just pay for its collection. Our experienced experts can offer their advice and help you put together an effective plan for medical waste collection.
Call 0800 211 8390 or contact us online today for a free quote for medical waste collection wherever you’re based in the UK.
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Medical waste
disposal
Disposing of medical waste must be done in line with various regulations that apply to its storage, removal, and disposal. These are in place to ensure all kinds of medical waste are disposed of safely without endangering human health or the environment. Important regulations that govern the disposal of medical waste include:
- Environmental Protection Act 1990
- Controlled Waste Regulations 2012
- Hazardous Waste Regulations 2005
Your organisation must arrange the removal of any medical waste by licensed waste carriers – whether it’s used PPE, sharps, anatomical, sanitary, or any other waste type. This helps ensure your medical waste is removed and disposed of safely, with all legal steps followed. Disposing of medical waste any other way could result in a fine and negatively impact the environment.
Medical waste
bins
Our medical waste bins provide a safe and secure solution to store any kind of medical waste on your premises before its removal and disposal. Using an individual medical waste bin for each type makes separating easy to avoid contamination and ensure the contents of each bin are disposed of properly.
Having the right medical waste bin is also essential to reduce the risk of exposing staff, patients, or visitors to any potentially hazardous or infectious waste. Secure lids contain the waste, but you should also place them in a safe location where possible. Using the right type, size, and number of medical waste bins ensures you can store it all safely.
There are different medical waste bins, bags, and containers for sharps, sanitary, infectious, offensive, dental, anatomical, pharmaceutical, cytotoxic, and other types. Arrange delivery of one or more of the same or different bins and find the right medical waste bin for your needs.
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Clinical waste bags
Different colours refer to the type of medical waste each bag can hold, including separate bags for anatomical, dental, infectious, and non-infectious medical waste.
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Sharps bins
Coloured lids separate the types of sharps waste each bin holds, such as yellow-lid sharps bins for syringes and other sharps contaminated with medical waste.
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Sanitary waste bins
Sanitary bins are a requirement of all commercial bathrooms, which are even more essential in medical settings to uphold hygiene levels.
Medical waste
collection
Every medical institution must arrange medical waste collection by licensed waste carriers to get rid of it safely and legally. An efficient medical waste management strategy is vital to ensure all waste is removed from your premises regularly. This avoids hazardous and infectious waste especially from building up and putting human health at risk.
For smooth and efficient medical waste collection we provide free bins, bags, and medical waste containers. We’ll deliver these for free, wherever you are in the UK, and you simply pay for the collection costs. Fill each one with the relevant type of medical waste then place it at the agreed pick-up point.
You can book medical waste collection on a daily, weekly, or fortnightly schedule – or we can offer ad-hoc removals. Regular collections suit organisations that produce high volumes of medical waste and especially hazardous and infectious waste daily. This removes potentially dangerous waste from your premises to keep it safe and hygienic.
Our expert team can advise on the best collection schedule based on your operations with a free audit. You can also arrange delivery and collection of different medical waste bins on regularities that suit, such as having infectious waste collected daily but offensive waste removed once a week.
How to dispose
of medical waste
To dispose of medical waste, you must place any rubbish in the relevant medical waste container, bin, or bag when it’s produced. For example, any used scalpels should be thrown away in a sharps bin once the surgery is over, while contaminated gloves must be disposed of in an orange clinical waste bag.
These medical waste containers, bins, and bags must then be removed from the hospital or healthcare facility by licensed waste carriers. Most places use professional waste collection services, such as those available through Business Waste. Licenced waste carriers will remove the medical bins at an agreed time and schedule and transport them for disposal.
Disposal methods for medical waste depend on its type. Medical waste incineration is the main way it’s disposed of. High temperatures are applied to the waste to destroy it, including all its hazardous elements. Some medical waste may be disposed of through thermal disinfection, rendering it non-hazardous for recycling and recovery. This is more common with medical dressings, swabs, and gowns.
Arrange medical
waste collections
Book collections of your medical waste with Business Waste. Our licensed waste carriers can deliver free bins and remove your waste anywhere in the country thanks to our nationwide network. We can find a cost-effective and efficient solution whatever type of organisation you run and the type of medical waste you need collecting.
As well as medical waste, we can help get rid of any general waste and recycling your facility produces. Speak to one of our friendly and expert team for help putting together a waste management plan for all the waste your medical facility creates. They’ll provide a free no obligation quote too.
Call 0800 211 8390 or contact us online to arrange medical waste collection, get your free quote, and ask any questions.
Medical waste
FAQs
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What is medical waste?
Medical waste is any kind of waste produced in a healthcare setting that could be contaminated by blood, bodily fluids, medicines, or other infectious materials. This includes sharps (such as needles, syringes, and scalpels), PPE (like gloves, gowns, and masks), blood bags and body parts.
Most waste produced in a medical setting such as a hospital, GP surgery, or dental practice, classes as medical waste. It’s important that such waste is stored separately and disposed of properly to avoid the risk of contamination and exposure to potentially hazardous and infectious materials.
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What’s the difference between medical and clinical waste?
Medical waste is a type of clinical waste that covers such refuse produced in purely medical settings. Clinical waste is a broader term, which includes the likes of sharps and other waste created in non-medical businesses such as tattoo parlours and beauty salons. For rubbish to class as medical waste, it must be from a medical setting (like a hospital, doctor’s surgery, or healthcare centre).
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What happens to medical waste?
After its production and removal from a healthcare site, medical waste is moved to a relevant waste management facility nearby. Most medical waste is incinerated, which turns them into gas, heat, and ash. This destroys the organic substances and hazardous materials and reduces the waste’s mass by 80% and volume by 95%.
It means less waste ends up in a landfill and the risk of contamination from infectious or hazardous materials is eliminated. Some medical waste may go through thermal disinfection, which removes any hazardous and infectious elements so the materials can be recovered and recycled.
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How do I dispose of medical waste at home?
Check whether your local council offer a collection service if you create any medical waste at home, such as syringes, pharmaceuticals, or sharps. Some local authorities provide a medical waste collection service for free, while others may charge a fee. You can also arrange collection by a reliable professional waste collection service.
You should never throw medical waste away in your household waste or recycling bin. This can contaminate the load or end up in a landfill, which puts both human health and the environment at risk.
Get your free medical waste collection quote
Get a fast FREE quote for your medical waste collections
- Free quote within 1 hr
- Any type of medical waste
- FREE bins and delivery
- We cover all of the UK