All clinical waste needs to be consigned and safely disposed of in line with a waste policy which you will need to have in place. You will need a contract for clinical waste and sharps disposal and a safe place to store your waste until it is collected.
The company you use to collect your medical waste will need detailed information on what the waste is before they can collect it. Waste that can be collected includes:
GP practices must provide audits of their waste to the contractors for them to collect it. You can complete this audit yourself or in some cases, the company can do this for a charge.
Audits of medical waste for GP practices should be conducted every five years.
A good starting point is to speak to any local GP practices (NHS or private) and see which companies they use to deal with medical waste. These companies will be in the area regularly so may be a good option.
It can be helpful to colour code your waste boxes to help identify and segregate waste.
If you are categorising waste using the European waste catalogue. You will need to let your contractor know the relevant codes for each type of waste you are disposing of.
You will need to ensure you have a safe place to store medical waste in your practice while you are waiting for collection.
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