Clinical waste collection
For households who generate one bag of clinical and medical waste a week, we offer a free collection service.
You cannot put infectious waste in your normal household rubbish containers because it is collected separately to be sent to licensed treatment facilities for disposal.
There is also an additional collection for sharps (such as needles) but you can use the same online form to apply for both.
A sharps box should be used to safely dispose of needles, hypodermic needles and scalpels. These items should never be put in your general rubbish bin.
- We can collect clinical waste from your home providing you are self-treating.
- If your waste is being generated by a health care worker, even in your home, the Primary Care Trust will arrange to collect it.
For more information about how the clinical waste service works in your area, please see below.
Clinical waste collections for Lewes residents
Arrange a collection
For households who generate one bag of clinical and medical waste a week, we offer a free collection service.
Some clinical waste items are considered to be infections and others are not. Please fully read the guidance below before signing up for collections, to ensure your waste is handled correctly.
Types of clinical waste
Sharps and needles:
Must be presented for clinical collection contained within a sharps box.
Infectious clinical waste items:
- Swabs or Dressings
- Human tissue
- Blood and equipment
- Any other healthcare related waste which may cause infection to a person coming into contact with it (E.g. incontinence pads produced by someone suffering from an infectious disease, such as, salmonella).
These items can only be collected by the clinical waste team, and must not be placed in the general waste bin. They must be presented in Orange bags (infectious) for collection.
Non-infectious clinical waste items:
- Catheters
- Incontinence pads
- Stoma bags / Stomach pouches (I believe that they are the same thing)
- Empty saline or glucose IV bags
- Tubing from home dialysis, non-contaminated tissue.
If collected by our clinical waste team, these items must be presented in yellow (non-infectious) bags.
If you wish to dispose of these items in the general waste, they must be double bagged in black sacks - not yellow clinical bags.
Yellow bags, orange bags, and sharps boxes are provided on request. Please make sure that you write your name and address on the label. This is a legal requirement, and we will not be able to collect the bags without these details being completed.
Collection days
Infectious waste is collected from 6am on Wednesdays.
Clinical waste and sharps collections in Eastbourne
A free collection service is provided for the removal of clinical waste/sharps such as:
- soiled infectious dressings
- used syringes
- needles
Clinical waste collections are provided for residents of private households who are self-medicating.
You must put clinical waste in a yellow clinical waste bag. These bags are supplied and are specially marked for users of the service and these are collected weekly, (a separate collection from your household waste and recycling collections).
Used syringes and needles must be put into a lockable sharps box/container(s). Sharps Boxes are collected as required and residents should contact the council to arrange a collection.
Use our online form to request a new clinical waste or sharps collection, change something about your collection or end your collection. Or call the Contact Centre to book - 01323 410000.
Clinical waste is collected on Wednesdays
Where a District Nurse attends the property to administer medication or change dressings, the District Nurse will need to arrange a private collection for any waste/sharps generated.
Nursing homes, veterinary practices, dentist's and doctor's surgeries should contact an approved private contractor.
Incontinence pads and babies nappies are not classed as clinical waste and should be put in black bin bags and placed in your refuse bin.
Arrange a collection
Clinical Waste FAQs
Can I have a clinical waste collection?
Clinical waste collections are provided for residents who are self-medicating. Where a District Nurse attends the property to administer medication or change dressings, the District Nurse will need to arrange a private collection for any waste/sharps generated.
Do I need a clinical waste, sack collection for waste produced as a result of Dialysis, Stoma or incontinence pads?
Waste generated as a result of a resident requiring Dialysis or producing stoma bags can go in the general waste bin and do not require to be collected as part of a clinical waste collection.
What time does a clinical waste collection take place?
Clinical waste collections generally take place between 7am and 3.30pm on the scheduled day of collection. Boxes/sacks need to be available at the property by 7am. The best location for collection is by the front door.
When do clinical waste collections take place?
We operate a clinical waste service on a Wednesday to properties in Eastbourne. Sharps collections need to be pre-booked via the councils website or by calling 01323 410000.
Are you able to provide a replacement box?
Where a collection of a full sharps box is made we are able to provide a replacement on a like for like basis.
I do not have a sharps box, can one be provided?
At the time that you are prescribed medication, the hospital/doctor or pharmacy should provide you with the initial box. If you have not been provided with one, please contact them back to obtain a sharps box. We are able to provide a replacement box at the time of making a collection of a full box but not the initial box.
What is the difference between yellow/orange and purple lidded sharps box?
The colour of the lid determines the type of medical waste being disposed of.
Yellow/orange lidded sharps boxes, are used for disposing of sharps contaminated with medicinal products. This includes items like pre-filled syringes, needles, and other sharp objects, used for medication associated with diabetes, blood thinners, EpiPens and weight loss etc.
Purple-lidded sharps boxes are specifically for cytotoxic and cytostatic waste. This includes items contaminated with chemotherapy drugs, hormone treatments, and other cytotoxic medication, associated with cancer, rheumatoid arthritis and fertility treatment.
