Following independent tests Green Valet's new Clinical Waste Bulk Carriage bag has been approved for use transporting clinical waste in bulk quantities to incineration and alternative treatment sites. This bag has now been placed on contract with NHS Supply Chain and is available for use in UK hospitals.

Regulations require all UN 3291 type clinical waste transported to alternative treatment and incineration sites to be carried in approved containers. This is intended to protect drivers and handlers involved in clinical waste carriage from accidental contact with contaminated clinical waste. The standards were jointly formulated by the Department of Health (DoH), the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and Department for Transport (DfT).

The main cause of accidental contact during transport is burst bags which occurs when sharp items have been placed in them. Spillages caused by overfilling and incorrect sealing are another major problem.

All clinical waste bulk carriage bags in use after January 1st 2009 should provide visual confirmation they meet current regulations. Markings should confirm that bags have passed tests defined in the current RID/ADR and IMDG codes.

These specify that plastic waste bags used for transporting clinical waste must be totally sealed and leak proof. Bags should be type tested for solids of packing group II and contain no more than 30KG. The stringent requirements also include a dart impact resistance test, a tear resistance test for parallel and perpendicular ripping and a 30Kg drop test.

Following recent tests on bags from a number of manufacturers, only one was found to meet the specification. This bag is distributed by Green Valet, a leading specialist clinical and domestic waste bag supplier to the NHS, and has now been placed on an exclusive contract. Coded MVN041, the bag is now available to hospitals from NHS Supply Chain as well as direct from Green Valet.

About NHS Supply Chain: NHS Supply Chain provides end-to-end supply chain services incorporating procurement, logistics, e-commerce, and customer and supplier support. NHS Supply Chain manages the procurement and delivery of over 500,000 products for more than 600 NHS trusts, hospitals and other healthcare organisations, working with a range of suppliers across diverse product categories to deliver high-quality, cost-effective products.

Find out more about Green Valet's clinical waste Bulk Carrying Bags