Care Home Waste Management Solutions from Principal Hygiene
Care Home Waste Segregation
Yellow Bags & Bins Care home clinical waste include dressings, gloves, swabs, wipes, PPE.
Orange Bags & Bins Contaminated with blood or bodily fluids e.g. dressings, swabs, wipes, gloves, gowns, masks, aprons, and blood bags.
Purple Bags Hazardous cytotoxic and cytostatic medicines e.g. chemotherapy, hormone-based drugs. High temperature incineration required.
Black Bags Domestic Waste Used pharmaceutical waste, such as expired or partially used medication (not usually for sharps).
Indoor bins typically 240l.
Colour coded Sharps Bins
Yellow Lids Medicinal products and their residues e.g. syringes and needles used in patient treatments.
Orange Lids Sharps not contaminated with pharmaceuticals e.g. blood-contaminated needles, scalpels, and glass from clinics.
Purple Lids Hazardous cytotoxic and cytostatic medicines e.g. chemotherapy, hormone-based drugs. High temperature incineration required.
Blue Lids Used pharmaceutical waste, such as expired or partially used medication (not usually for sharps).
Red Lids Anatomical waste types e.g. blood bags
Sharps bin sizes can range from just .5 litre to 22 litres.
Outdoor Bins
Outdoor bins make for easy collection, clinical waste obviously held in an appropriate coloured bin.
New trade waste regulations introduced at the end of March 2025 require separate bins for:
- Non-recyclable
- Cardboard
- Food waste
- Glass collection
- Dry mixed
- Clinical
