Separate hazardous clinical waste collections - domestic only
We collect clinical waste produced by residents within their own homes if requested. We use a contractor called Medisort.
Clinical waste must be collected separately and not mixed with other waste placed out for collection by the council or other contractors.
Waste produced during treatment
If the clinical waste was produced during treatment at home by a healthcare professional, the service provider should arrange its collection and disposal.
This waste should not be left for the resident or council to deal with. It can only be left in the patient's home with their permission if appropriate arrangements for its collection have been made in advance.
Unwanted medicines
The best way to dispose of unwanted medicines is to take them to your local pharmacist.
Needles/syringes
Sharps boxes for containing hypodermic needles/syringes can be obtained on prescription (using an FP10 form). The following local pharmacies only accept full sharps boxes from substance misusers.
| Area | Address |
| Battersea |
Barkers Chemist, 49 Falcon Road, SW11 2PH (Tel: 020 7228 1701) Healthchem Ltd, 166-168 Battersea Bridge Road, SW11 3AW St John's Fixed Site Needle Exchange, St John's Therapy Centre, 162 St John's Hill, SW11 1SW |
| Roehampton | Co-op Chemist, 3 Danebury Avenue, SW15 4DF (Tel: 020 8788 3150) |
| Southfields | Aura Pharmacy, 78 Inner Park Road, SW19 6DA (Tel: 020 8788 6531) |
| Streatham | Markrise Pharmacy, Mitcham Lane, SW16 6LY (Tel: 020 8769 0446) |
| Tooting | Tooting Pharmacy, 175 Upper Tooting Road, SW17 7TJ (Tel: 020 8672 5843) |
| Wandsworth |
Barkers Chemist*, 245 Garratt Lane, SW18 4DU (Tel: 020 8874 1495) Only accepts containers of less than 1 litre capacity. East Pharmacy, 53 East Hill, SW18 2QE (Tel: 020 8874 1636) |
Request clinical waste collection and/or containers
All orange bag collections for clinical waste are weekly, but all sharps box collections must be booked individually. Check what day clinical waste will be collected in your street.
Any clinical waste collected by this service will be disposed of safely and all records are treated confidentially.
Our contractor Medisort offers two free services:
- Weekly - orange sack clinical waste collection
- One-off - yellow sharps box collection
To request a service complete Medisort's contact form, leaving the 'company' and 'job title' fields blank.
What happens next
All clinical waste collections are made on the same day that we collect refuse and recycling sacks from street level houses in your road (using a separate collection vehicle).
Please note that if Medisort find no orange clinical waste sacks ready for collection on the scheduled collection day for three weeks in a row, the service will be cancelled at that address. If you still require the service, you will need to re-request it.
Amend, cancel or report missed collections
To change your requested collection date, cancel the service if you no longer need it, or to report a missed collection, contact Medisort:
- Visit the Medisort website
- Email: ask@medisort.co.uk
- Telephone: 01903 719646
You will then be given an option to join Medisort’s self-service portal which can be used for all subsequent service change requests.
Missed collections reported by 5pm should be put right on the following day, excluding Saturday and Sunday.
Non-infectious healthcare waste
To dispose of non-infectious healthcare waste from domestic sources, eg incontinence waste from people who do not have an infectious disease, securely wrap the waste by double bagging it, and present it for collection with other domestic rubbish for disposal via the standard weekly collection service provided by Serco.
Pease check whether your waste should be collected separately as clinical waste if you are unsure.
Contact Medisort to cancel your clinical waste collection service if you do not need it.