The council offers a free collection to all residents who need to dispose of any clinical waste at home. This includes items such as, sharps (needles and syringes etc), dialysis products, swabs or dressings. We can collect monthly, every other month or only occasionally, as you require.
Commercial clinical waste collections, including collections from residential and nursing homes is not included in this service.
What is clinical waste?
Clinical waste is any item which can be hazardous to health. This includes dressings, dialysis products, needles, empty insulin cartridges or syringes. These items require a separate collection as they need to be incinerated.
What is not clinical waste?
Any waste that is not hazardous to health is not classed as clinical waste and can be placed in with normal household waste. Examples of these items are incontinence pads, nappies, disposable bed pans, stoma bags and urine containers. We would advise that these items are double bagged before placing in your household waste bin.
How should I dispose of sharps?
The safest way to dispose of sharps is to put them into a sharps box, provided by your pharmacy. This will then be collected from you as part of our specialist collection service.
How do I get a sharps box?
You will need to continue getting a prescription from your GP, and arrange for a Sharps Box from your local pharmacist. These one litre boxes allow for the safe disposal of sharps. You should request two boxes to allow for a spare.
What can I put in my sharps box?
| Yes | No |
|---|---|
| Needles | Disposable pens can be disposed of in domestic waste as long as the needle has been removed and disposed of in your sharps box. |
| Lancets | Dressings and swabs |
| Syringes | Incontinence pads |
| Empty insulin cartridges | |
| Insulin pump infusion sets | |
| Needles from disposal pens |
How do I dispose of other clinical waste?
The council provides a specialist collection service of clinical waste as well as sharps. This can include anything which can cause infection, including dialysis waste, dressings and swabs.
Once registered for this service you will be supplied with yellow bags to collect the waste.
Do I have to register for these specialist collection services?
Yes you need to register with the council to receive this service. You can do this by calling the council on 0300 456 0102. This only takes a few minutes. Once you have registered to receive a collection you will be sent a list of the clinical waste collection dates.
When and where do I leave my box/bags for collection?
Your collection point and day will be agreed with you once you have registered to receive this service. Please ensure you bin is placed at this agreed collection point on your scheduled collection day.
I run a nursing/ residential home and need a clinical waste collection, can the council collect?
The clinical and sharps collection service is for householders in Wiltshire only. Commercial clinical waste collections, including collections from residential and nursing homes is therefore not included in this service.
Contact Details (LiveLink)
Multiple Contacts:
eMail: customerserviceseast@wiltshire.gov.uk
Telephone: 01380 734849
Out of hours:
Fax:
Postal Address:
Kennet House
Sergeant Rogers Way
Hopton Industrial
Estate
Devizes
SN10
2ET
In Person: Wiltshire Council
Browfort
Bath Road
Devizes
SN10 2AT
DX:
Last updated: 8 May 2012
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