GuidesEngland
Recycling records for dental and GP practices
Last reviewed 25 October 2026
This note covers ordinary workplace recycling at a dental or GP practice in England: reception paper and card, packaging, staff-room food waste, and general waste. Clinical waste, medicines and sharps are a different duty and are not recorded here. Plastic, metal and glass may be collected together. Paper and card stay separate unless the collector has a written assessment.
Ordinary waste, kept apart from clinical waste
Reception paper, cardboard, packaging, staff-room food waste and general waste follow the England workplace rules. Clinical waste, medicines and sharps are a different duty. They do not go in the recycling, and they are not recorded in SortProof.
Paper and card stay separate unless a written assessment is on file. Plastic, metal and glass may be collected together. Record staff-room food waste only if the practice produces it.
Health-centre tenants
If you occupy rooms in a health centre, keep the landlord’s or building manager’s written confirmation of the non-clinical collections. You still separate the waste you produce.
If the site is in Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland, read the guide for that nation. The streams and dates there are different. The free check on SortProof uses the England rules.
In short
- Record the practice as a site and say whether the building landlord arranges the bins.
- Keep clinical waste out of the recycling and out of the general waste stream in SortProof.
- Separate reception paper and cardboard from other dry recycling, unless a written assessment is on file.
- Record staff-room food waste only if the practice produces it.
- Keep the collection contract or the landlord’s written confirmation.
Questions
Does SortProof cover clinical waste?
No. Clinical waste is outside this guide. Use the arrangements and paperwork that apply to that waste.
We are tenants in a health centre. What do we keep?
Keep the landlord’s or building manager’s written confirmation of the non-clinical collections, and separate the waste you produce.
Related guides
SortProof stores the record you enter. It is guidance, not a certificate, and it is not issued by Defra or the Environment Agency.