Coronavirus: Waste

(asked on 14th January 2021) - View Source

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the capacity of local authorities to manage the (a) scale and (b) complexity of (i) clinical and (ii) other waste generated by used covid-19 (A) protection, (B) vaccination and (C) testing products.


Answered by
Rebecca Pow Portrait
Rebecca Pow
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This question was answered on 19th January 2021

Defra and the Environment Agency are working closely with colleagues across government, including DHSC and PHE, and the waste sector to ensure that waste arising as a result of COVID-19 protection, testing, and vaccination is managed and disposed of safely.

Clinical waste and offensive waste are legally defined in The Controlled Waste (England and Wales) Regulations 2012. Other than general waste and any packaging waste, waste from Lateral Flow Devices (LFDs) and the testing process is classified as non-hazardous healthcare offensive and chemical waste ( https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-lateral-flow-tests-waste-codes/waste-codes-for-mass-testing-with-lateral-flow-antigen-testing-devices). DHSC has confirmed that this waste does not present any increased risk compared with, for example, personal care waste. Assessments of the chemicals used in LFD tests have been made by DHSC and have confirmed that this waste should not be classified as 'clinical waste' and does not need to be managed as such. Waste management operations should continue to follow appropriate guidance for hygiene and health and safety practices.

Householders undertaking home COVID-19 testing using a LFD test kit should dispose of the LFD test kit, in its packaging, in their residual waste bin, in a similar fashion to home pregnancy test kits.

Where a number of tests are being undertaken at the same place (e.g. mass population testing sites, workplaces etc.), LFD wastes should be segregated in accordance with DHSC guidance above, to ensure efficient and safe management of this waste. This waste must be collected from the testing location by an appropriately licensed waste carrier, such as those providing washroom services, or a general waste contractor. This waste must then be either taken directly to a municipal waste incinerator temporarily permitted to accept this waste by the Environment Agency under a Regulatory Position Statement (RPS C23: Incinerating specified healthcare wastes at a municipal waste incinerator); or to a waste transfer facility that has demonstrated to the Environment Agency that they can store these wastes in a safe and controlled manner, and have been granted a temporary formal local enforcement position to safely store and then transfer these wastes to municipal waste incinerators.

Vaccination waste will be managed within existing healthcare waste management systems. Clinical waste handling remains a devolved matter under the respective health bodies. In addition, a four nation cross government working group maintains active monitoring of the waste flows being generated and resilience measures have been put in place to support NHS Test and Trace, the vaccination programmes and PPE waste flows.

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