Healthcare Waste in your Tattoo & Piercing Business
Healthcare Waste in Your Tattoo & Piercing Business
As the owner / manager of practicing tattoo or piercing artists, you are legally responsible for the waste that your studio produces on site.
For mobile artists you are responsible for the waste that is produced in the treatment of your client – it cannot be left with them.
You have a legal obligation to ensure the disposal of the “Healthcare” waste is carried out appropriately and that its final treatment meets the requirements of the legislation.
So what is healthcare waste?
The definition of Healthcare Waste (or medical/clinical) is defined by the Controlled Waste Regulations Act 2012 (*1) as:
“any waste which consists wholly or partly of human or animal tissue, blood or other body fluids, excretions, drugs or other pharmaceutical products, swabs or dressings, syringes, needles or other sharp instruments, being waste which unless rendered safe may prove hazardous to any person coming into contact with it; Other waste arising from medical, nursing, dental, veterinary, pharmaceutical or similar practice, investigation, treatment, care, teaching or research, or the collection of blood for transfusion, being waste which may cause infection to any person coming into contact with it.”
So for a Tattoo & Piercing Studio this includes all the sharps used and also the “soft waste” such as couch roll, swabs, any PPE used etc.
By ensuring you work with a fully registered and ethically validated service provider – which all Green Circle Direct suppliers are – you can rest assured your waste is going to the right place & being disposed of correctly!
You also take away the risk of a very substantial fine and reputational damage for not doing so.
How is this enforced?
As a producer of clinical waste you are legally required to classify and describe the waste.
The reason the accountability sits with the producer is to be able to provide a full audit trail.
This is done through documentation describing the waste and other relevant details known as
the Duty of Care Waste Transfer Notes & Hazardous/Special Waste Consignment Notes
This also has the objectives of:
preventing any other persons committing the offences of depositing, disposing of or recovering controlled waste without an environmental permit or waste management licence.
Safely containing the waste and preventing escape spills
Ensuring the waste transfer only goes to authorised establishments for final regulated disposal.
Mixing waste is prohibited in England and Wales under Duty of Care and the Hazardous Waste Regulations.
Not only does this help to keep us all safe it has a massive impact on protecting both our home / local environment and that of our global planet too.
It really is “acting local and thinking Global”
We’ve put together a really useful diagram below that simply shows you what to put where to keep you safe and compliant.
