Containers for your Health and Social Care waste and recycling needs

Estimated reading time: 5 min

Providing the right bins and containers for your waste and recycling, and storing them in the right location, is essential for helping your staff, customers and visitors separate waste more effectively and increase the amount your workplace recycles.

In deciding what kind of waste and recycling containers and storage areas your workplace needs, think about these two questions:

What types and quantities of waste materials does your workplace generate? For example, a hospital café, staff canteen or on-site patient catering service would likely generate large amounts of cardboard and food waste, while a social care service administration office likely generates paper and a small amount of food waste, plastic packaging, glass and metals.
Where in your workplace is waste being generated, and by whom? For example, a GP or dental surgery might generate large amounts of waste cardboard, but the staff break room would generate small amounts of plastic packaging and food waste from staff breaks.

Answering these questions will help you manage the way waste and recycling moves through your premises. For example, you can position internal containers and bins in the places where waste is generated, such as by desks, on hospital concourses, in patient waiting areas and staff break rooms or at food prep/clearing stations.

Good Practice Case Study
The Somerset NHS Foundation Trust collects food waste separately as part of its waste management service. They remove food waste from wards by taking it straight from patients’ plates and putting it into caddies on wheeled trolleys. From there, they take it to a central waste storage area. The food waste is sent for anaerobic digestion, which generates energy. Read the case study for more information.

Checklist: choosing the right bins for your workplace

Large enough to contain waste and recycling between emptying, but not so large that they’re difficult to manoeuvre or lift. We recommend that the containers you use to separate food waste indoors, for example in a food prep setting, should be 35 litres or less, and that the outdoor containers you use to present food waste for collection should be no larger than 140 litres, to keep them suitable for manual handling Commercial Food Waste Collections Guide
With lids or covers to keep materials dry and stop waste escaping
Store different types of waste separately so that they don’t contaminate each other – this also means you can reuse them more easily, and it’ll be easier to complete your correctly
Label containers clearly with the waste they contain

If you’re short of space, vertical multi-compartment recycling bins or stackable bins may be an option, as these have the same footprint as a single bin while allowing you to separate materials. You’ll need to take into account that these types of bins will probably need emptying more often.

How to keep waste and recycling separate

It’s easiest to separate from general waste at the point where it’s produced. Here’s how to keep your recycling separate from other waste:

Create recycling stations where waste and recycling are generated and include a container for general waste
Colour-code containers consistently throughout your premises to reduce confusion. Section 5 of HTM-07-01 provides guidance on the mandatory colour-coding and storage requirements for healthcare waste in England and Wales. NHS Scotland and the Northern Irish Public Health Care Agency each use different colour-coding systems. In England, use a white or clear bag for domestic waste separated for recycling, and a black or clear bag for domestic waste sent for disposal
Use our material-specific posters to label bins – they use distinctive colours and images that are used and recognised nationally across recycling services
Provide training – communicate the changes to your employees and cleaning and maintenance staff/contractor, providing separate training where necessary
Reward good practice – this will encourage further improvements

You can also speak with your current cleaning or waste about supplying new bins if they’re needed.