Managing sharps contaminated with pharmaceutical waste

Examples of sharps

Sharps are items (or parts of items) that could cause cuts or puncture wounds. These include:

• needles
• syringes with needles attached
• pre-filled syringes with needles
• scalpels and other blades
• broken glass ampoules
• the patient end of infusion sets

Disposal considerations

Syringes containing pharmaceuticals should not be discharged prior to placing them into a sharps bin.

Sharps waste should be disposed of in sharps bins that meet the appropriate British Standards BS EN ISO 23907-1 (single use) and BS EN ISO 23907- 2 (reusable). These receptacles are not designed for large amounts of liquid. Where disposal of large volumes of liquid with sharps is necessary, organisations may wish to risk assess and consider mitigation strategies.   

Sharps containing Controlled Drugs

Where the sharp also contains a Controlled Drug (CD), an organisational risk assessment should be undertaken to decide if the CD should be denatured before disposal. This includes medicines prepared but not administered and part-doses.

Factors to consider include the risk of the member of staff receiving a needle stick injury whilst denaturing a CD, compared with the risk of the CD being diverted for illicit purposes. The risk assessment should be supported by a Standard Operating Procedure.

Where an organisational risk assessment deems it unsafe to denature the CD, the entire sharp containing the CD should be disposed of in the appropriate sharps bin.

Managing Controlled Drugs (CD) waste (SPS page) contains further information about the disposal of controlled drugs.

Good practice when managing sharps

Sharps waste bins:

• must be available close to the point of production of the sharps waste
• should be secure and located away from public areas
• should not be placed on the floor
• must not be filled above the mark, which indicates that they are full

Filled sharps waste bins

Only sharps waste produced by the organisation may be consigned from the organisation’s premises. This means only sharps resulting from patient care within the organisation can be disposed of by that organisation.

Filled sharps bins must be stored securely, pending collection by a waste contractor. They should not be allowed to accumulate in corridors, wards or other places accessible to members of the public.

Sharps waste bins from patients

Where an individual administers their own medication at home, they should be supplied with a sharps bin. These can be prescribed on an FP10 prescription. The individual should be advised of the local disposal options. The local authority can be contacted for current advice for a specific locality.

If the medicine is supplied via homecare, the contract should have provision for the collection of waste medication and sharps.

Using the correct sharps bin

Sharps contaminated with pharmaceutical waste can be divided into two broad groups:

1. sharps contaminated with pharmaceutical hazardous (cytotoxic and cytostatic) waste
2. sharps contaminated with pharmaceutical non-hazardous (non-cytotoxic and non-cytostatic) waste

Pharmaceutical hazardous waste

Sharps contaminated with cytotoxic or cytostatic products should be placed in suitable pharmaceutical hazardous waste containers for disposal.

Purple-lidded sharps bin

A purple-lidded sharps bin must be used and should be clearly labelled with the following information using a black permanent marker pen, before filling the container:

• Sharps waste contaminated with Pharmaceutical Hazardous Waste for Incineration
• Cytotoxic and Cytostatic
• EWC 18 01 03* and 18 01 08*

If the waste includes any patient’s own medicines, it should additionally be coded as EWC 20 01 31*.

Pharmaceutical non-hazardous waste

Sharps contaminated with pharmaceuticals that are not cytotoxic or cytostatic products should be placed in suitable pharmaceutical non-hazardous waste containers for disposal by incineration.

Managing Controlled Drugs (CD) waste (SPS page) contains further information about the disposal of a controlled drug.

Yellow-lidded sharps bin

A yellow-lidded sharps bin must be used and should be clearly labelled with the following information using a black permanent marker pen, before filling the container:

• Sharps waste contaminated with Pharmaceutical Non-hazardous Waste for Incineration
• Non-Cytotoxic and Non-Cytostatic
• EWC 18 01 03* and 18 01 09

If the waste includes any patient’s own medicines, it should additionally be coded as EWC 20 01 32.

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