Clinical waste

Some household clinical waste can be disposed of in your grey-lidded general rubbish bin but we provide a free, safe collection service for other clinical waste.

This can include:

• surgical dressings or swabs
• syringes, needles or other sharp instruments
• drugs or other pharmaceutical products
• infectious waste.

Arrange or cancel a clinical waste collection

This is a free service but must be requested through a district nurse, health visitor or doctor.

Use our form to:

• apply for a new clinical waste collection
• cancel or suspend an existing arrangement
• request an additional collection
• arrange for a sharps box collection
• apply for an additional refuse bin for medical reasons.

Items allowed in your grey-lidded refuse bin

• disposable nappies, items used to dispose of urine, faeces and other bodily fluids
• incontinence pads, used disposable bed pans and bed pan liners
• stoma bags
• empty urine containers where there is no risk of blood contamination.

Syringes and needles

Used needles must never be:

• disposed of in the domestic waste collection (even if put inside other containers) as this could present serious hazards to staff
• bent or broken before disposal, and you must never try to recap a needle

You should use a 'sharps bin' to dispose of used needles or sharps. A sharps bin is a specially designed rigid box with a lid that's available on prescription (FP10 prescription form) from your GP or pharmacist.

Syringes can be returned to local chemists, who will take the full container:

• Paydens Ltd, 17 Queen Street, Deal
• Clockwork Pharmacy, 7 High Street, Deal
• Cairns Chemist (Vantage ), 51 London Road, Dover
• Paydens Chemist, 108 High Street, Dover
• River Pharmacy, 1 Chilton Way, River
• Grace Chemist, 127 Folkestone Road, Dover
• Eastry Pharmacy, The Cross, Eastry, Sandwich

Syringes and needles found in public places

We will collect any syringes found in a public place as a priority. Most syringes are collected within 12 hours of reporting.

Please provide as much detail on the location as possible to allow our crews to find the sharps/needles.

Alternatively you can call:

• 01304 872428 during office hours
• 01304 821199 out of office hours

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