New waste segregation rules took effect on 31st March 2025, affecting many businesses, including dental practices.
The regulations introduce a greater focus on dry recyclable materials, food waste and municipal waste workflows. Clinical teams must be aware of how they affect their practice and the steps that they need to take. Luckily, healthcare clinics and dental practices already segregate clinical waste, so this will not be an unfamiliar task.
What are the new waste regulations?
As of 31st March 2025, businesses must separate more of their everyday waste before it is collected, including items produced by visitors and patients. The categories for separation include:
- Dry recyclable materials (plastic, metal, glass, paper and card)
- Food waste
- Non-recyclable waste, or residual waste
Paper and card waste will be separated further, but other dry recyclable materials may still be grouped together. Some specialist waste collectors may prefer this waste to be split at the source, so it is best to check before investing in new products or committing to changes.
Paper and card need to be separated because they may be contaminated when mixed with other dry recyclable materials. For example, in the same bin as glass bottles or metal drinks cans, paper may become soggy, which impacts the recycling rate negatively.
Who is affected by the new waste regulations?
All practices with more than 10 full-time equivalent staff members must follow these regulations immediately. If you are in a multi-site practice, this number is counted across all locations and not by individual site.
Those with fewer employees than this number (called ‘micro-firms’) do not need to follow the regulations until 31st March 2027.
How to fit the new waste regulations
Any business (including dental practices) that does not follow the new regulations could be issued with a compliance notice from the Environment Agency, and failure to comply with this risks enforcement action.
The changes that need to be made are simple. Firstly, clinical teams will need new containers for each separated material. If your specialist waste management team needs glass, metal and plastic to be separated at source, new containers for each of these will be required.
The new containers should be placed at the points of frequent waste generation. Consider the waste items that will be commonly produced in the your clinic or dental practice, i.e. food waste from staff meals, plastic and metal waste from drinks bottles and cans, so placing new bins in staff areas is advisable. Paper and cardboard waste may be produced in office areas, and will need its own dedicated container.
Choose effective waste segregation
Healthcare clinics and dental practices already follow similar waste segregation workflows with clinical waste, as seen in Health Technical Memorandum 07-01 (HTM 07-01). This means the team will likely adapt easily to these new recycling changes.
HTM 07-01 calls for clinicians to separate clinical products by the hazard they present, and put them in dedicated colour-coded containers when disposed of. Initial Medical provides expert support for this workflow, with guidance available both remotely and in-person.
Alongside support for waste segregation, Initial Medical also offers regulatory compliant containers as colour-coded solutions. From clinical waste bags made of 30% recycled plastic to sharps bins that are puncture-resistant to minimise injury risk, you can find the best support with Initial Medical.
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