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Recycling & Waste

Report hazardous waste, needles, syringes and broken glass

If you discover any material on roads, footpaths or open land which potentially looks hazardous, or see anyone dumping waste, then please contact us straight away.

Hazardous items include:

  • Needles, syringes or other drug-related items
  • Broken glass
  • Batteries
  • Drums of chemicals
  • Some electrical goods
  • Solvents
  • Asbestos

Biohazards include:

  • Vomit
  • Human excrement
  • Blood

Report Needles and SyringesReport Hazardous Waste/BiohazardReport Broken Glass

Discarded needles and syringes (Sharps)

We will remove and dispose of discarded needles or syringes and other drug related items in a public place.

You should NOT remove needles or syringes yourself.

Due to the danger of needlestick injuries, needles and syringes should not be disposed of in the refuse collection.  This presents a serious hazard to people collecting or handling the refuse.

Report Needles and Syringes

Needle disposal

Where a person treats themselves in their home, it is their responsibility to dispose of any clinical waste in a responsible way by using a sharps bin and taking this to a disposal point.  Please note that sharps bins larger than 1 litre will not normally be accepted at participating disposal points.

Sharps bins are plastic containers designed for the safe disposal of hazardous waste. Sharps bins are available on prescription from your doctor.  They can take needles, empty syringes, empty insulin cartridges and lancets.  Some patients use ‘B-D safe clip' devices to remove the needle from the syringe.  This does not need to be done if the needle and syringe are put straight into the sharps bin.

Where patients are prescribed sharps boxes by their GP they can take the full boxes back to their GP for disposal provided the practice is registered with the Environment Agency to accept this waste.

Where patients are prescribed sharps boxes by a hospital which are over 1 litre these can be returned back to the hospital for disposal

The nearest disposal points to you can be found here

Needle disposal points

Sharps bins are plastic containers designed for the safe disposal of hazardous waste. Sharps bins are available on prescription from your doctor.  They can take needles, empty syringes, empty insulin cartridges and lancets.  Some patients use ‘B-D safe clip' devices to remove the needle from the syringe.  This does not need to be done if the needle and syringe are put straight into the sharps bin.

Where patients are prescribed sharps boxes by their GP they can take the full boxes back to their GP for disposal provided the practice is registered with the Environment Agency to accept this waste.

Contacts: