Clinical waste colour coding guide

HTM 07-01 is the NHS England guide that sets the colours most UK sites use. Orange is infectious waste suitable for alternative treatment if it is not chemically or medicinally contaminated. Yellow is infectious waste that is also chemically contaminated. Tiger-stripe is non-infectious offensive waste. Sharps and cytotoxic medicines have their own lids. The producer still classifies the item before it goes in.

Best-practice bag and bin colours for healthcare waste in England. It is NHS guidance, not a Bio Waste invention. Private clinics and dentists use the same colours because inspectors recognise them.

The colours used on site

Lid colour on a sharps bin follows the waste inside, not the room it sits in. A purple lid is not a “hospital-grade” yellow bin. Environment Agency measures for treatment sites also reject orange loads that contain medicines or chemicals.

  • Orange bag / orange lid — Infectious waste without chemical or medicinal contamination — Loose tablets, amalgam, unknown chemicals
  • Yellow bag / yellow lid — Infectious waste that is also chemically contaminated — Non-infectious pads, municipal rubbish
  • Tiger-stripe (yellow and black) — Offensive, non-infectious healthcare or hygiene waste — Infectious dressings, sharps
  • Yellow sharps bin — Needles, blades, burs, medical glass — Soft waste, blister packs
  • Purple lid — Cytotoxic and cytostatic medicines and their sharps — Ordinary expired tablets
  • Blue-lidded medicinal (where used) — Non-cytotoxic medicines in many pharmacies and wards — Infectious soft waste

Examples

  • Treatment-room dressing: Assessed as infectious, no chemicals: orange. Chemically contaminated: yellow. Not assessed as infectious: not this bag.
  • Incontinence pad, no infection: Tiger-stripe if the site segregates offensive waste. Orange only if the assessment says the waste is infectious.
  • Needle after a vaccination: UN sharps bin. Never a clinical sack, even if the sack is closer.

Common mistakes

A poster that does not match the containers is worse than no poster. Printed sheets come from the office with the account so the wall matches the bags. We do not host downloadable PDFs that go stale.

  • A black sack in a treatment room because the orange roll ran out
  • Orange waste tipped into tiger-stripe to “save a collection”
  • Blister packs in a sharps bin
  • A poster that disagrees with the bags actually on the wall
  • All guides
  • Get a quote
  • HTM 07-01 note
  • How to segregate

Frequently asked questions

Do private clinics have to follow HTM 07-01?

It is NHS guidance. It is also the accepted UK colour standard. Using it is the simplest way to show you understand the duty of care.

Is this the same as the older colour-coding article?

The legislation note at /resources/htm-07-01-colour-coding is the short version. This page is the working guide.

Bio Waste Solutions Group · Environment Agency carrier CBDU642850 · +44 7495 192759 · Request a quote · Company information