Clinical waste and sharps boxes

Clinical waste items and sharps boxes cannot be put into your general waste bin or recycling, you will need a special waste collection from your home.

What is clinical waste?

Clinical waste is any waste produced by a medical procedure or treatment. It can include sharp items such as needles as well as other items such as dressings.

We can provide a collection for these items for city residents who are self-treating or medicating their condition at home, but we cannot collect clinical waste or sharps from commercial and business addresses.

Clinical waste collection

Clinical waste is any waste left over from medical treatment at home. We will only collect this waste if asked to do so by your doctor, nurse, health centre or health trust.

Medical professionals can request this service via the quick link above, or email us at [email protected]

Sharps box collection

We provide a sharps box collection service for residents across the city. The service is only available for patients who self-treat their health conditions at home and have obtained their sharps boxes using an NHS prescription.

We only collect boxes with yellow, orange or white lids. If you have a sharps box with a different coloured lid, please contact Leicester General Hospital regarding disposal.

Collection of boxes

We can offer repeat or one-off sharps box collections. If you are receiving ongoing treatment, please store as many boxes as you safely can before arranging a collection. We would recommend a minimum of five boxes per collection for those receiving ongoing treatment.

If your treatment has finished and you will not require any further sharps boxes, we can collect the remaining boxes, regardless of how many you have.

If you, or someone you care for, needs a sharps box collection, wait until you have the minimum number of boxes, then contact us to arrange a collection date using the quick link above or the telephone number below.

Your boxes must be ready at your designated presentation point by 7am on collection day. Make sure the boxes are safely sealed but do not put them in any kind of bag. 

Cancelling a collection 

If you need to cancel or stop collections for a while, please let us know or ask your doctor, nurse or health centre to contact us.

Contact us

Call: 0116 454 6740

Visit: Request a clinical waste or sharps box collection

Email: [email protected]