Clinical Waste
Reduced Services
Refuse & recycling collections will be one day late week commencing Monday 29th May, due to the bank holiday.
Please note this does not affect country route residents.
Clinical Waste
What is Clinical Waste?
Not all waste produced from medical treatment is Clinical Waste and some is simply Offensive Waste, this affects the way in which the waste should be disposed of.
Clinical waste
Waste generated in a domestic situation from self-treatment that could contain infected human tissue, infected blood or bodily fluids, drugs or other pharmaceutical products, infected swabs or dressings, syringes, needles or other sharp instruments. Home dialysis waste is almost always considered hazardous and therefore classed as clinical waste.
Sharps boxes: used to safely dispose of hypodermic needles and other sharp medical instruments, such as IV catheters and disposable scalpels. These are also classed as Clinical Waste.
Offensive waste
Hygiene waste and sanitary protection like nappies and incontinence pads are classified as Offensive Waste. Stoma waste and spent catheters are considered similarly. Waste in the form of discarded non-infected wound dressings generated in the home under normal living conditions can also be considered as non-hazardous. These types of waste are all deemed non-hazardous and can be put in the normal residual waste collection service; they are therefore not clinical wastes.
How to dispose of Clinical Waste
The Council will only collect waste if the medication is self-administered. If medication is administered by a health professional, any waste produced should be taken away by the health professional.
Due to the potentially harmful nature of Clinical Waste and sharps boxes this waste should not be placed in the refuse sacks (black sacks). To organise a collection you need to complete the following two forms to register your requirement for a collection. Once we have received the completed forms we shall contact you to start collections.
Resident form - Clinical waste form - for resident to complete - v19-03-19[pdf] 194KB
Download and print off this form and complete to inform us of the type of collection you require
GP form - Clinical Waste Requirement GP Form - v19-03-19[pdf] 151KB
This form must be completed and stamped by your GP to prove the type of waste being produced.
Once complete and signed please post both forms to:
Castle Point Borough Council, Farmhouse Depot, Canvey Road, Canvey Island SS8 0QU
or email forms to:
Unable to download or print these forms please call 01268 882200 for a paper copy to be sent out to you.
When will your collections start?
Once we have received and processed your form we will contact you to explain how collections will take place. Collections will start as soon as possible. Your collections will not necessarily happen on your standard collection day.
Obtaining a new sharps box
The council does not provide replacement sharps boxes, these can be obtained on prescription from your GP.
How to dispose of Offensive Waste
As Offensive waste is non-infectious and does not contain pharmaceutical and chemical substances it can be bagged and then placed in with normal domestic refuse (i.e. black bag). Offensive waste includes hygiene waste and sanitary protection like nappies and incontinence pads, no matter the quantity. The council will not provide any additional collections for this type of waste.