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General information, not medical, legal or environmental advice. Call Triple Zero (000) in an emergency, or go to the emergency department of your nearest hospital. These are Western Australia’s rules only. The official document is the WA Department of Health’s Code of Practice for Clinical and Related Waste Management (February 2021).

NOTE MW-4 · WESTERN AUSTRALIA

Clinical waste in Western Australia

In Western Australia, the principal waste law is the Environmental Protection Act 1986 and its regulations, and each WA Health facility is to manage its clinical and related waste under the WA Department of Health’s Code of Practice for Clinical and Related Waste Management, dated February 2021. The code adds that radiological waste comes under the Radiation Safety Act 1975, and pharmaceutical waste under the Medicines and Poisons Act 2014.

Note
MW-4
State
Western Australia
Code dated
February 2021
Date checked
8 Oct 2026

Field 01Scope of the code

The code says it applies specifically to all contractors and people employed in WA Health, which it says incorporates:

  • the Department of Health
  • the Metropolitan Health Services
  • the WA Country Health Service
  • Health Service Providers.

It covers care given in a facility and through healthcare at home programs. The code also says it applies more generally to anyone who may handle, transport or dispose of clinical and related waste, under the general public health duty in section 34 of the Public Health Act 2016. The rules below are written as the code writes them, for WA Health.

State rule · Western Australia

Each WA Health facility is also to have an auditable management structure, and procedures for every aspect of this waste, including, but not limited to:

  • the roles and responsibilities of managers and staff
  • separating and handling particular waste streams
  • ways to reduce and recycle waste
  • tracking and measuring how much of each category there is
  • records proving the waste was handled, carried and disposed of properly and safely.

WA Health facilities must also meet the Environmental Protection Controlled Waste Regulations (2004), which set standards for carrying and disposing of controlled waste, and under them a facility is both a “generator” and a “holder” of the waste.

Field 02Labels and colours

Tables 1 and 2 of the code, for WA Health.
WasteContainer colourMarking
CytotoxicPurpleWhite telophase sign
Clinical, including sharpsYellowBlack biological hazard sign

Cytotoxic containers follow NZS 4304:2002; the code says there is no specific symbol for pharmaceutical waste.

Field 03Containers

State rule · Western Australia
  1. Cytotoxic waste must go in labelled, sealed, impervious containers strong enough not to spill, leak or break in transport, with a second layer of containment to catch any spill on the way. Reusable containers must not be used for it.
  2. Pharmaceutical waste must be collected in containers that do not react with it, cannot be tampered with, resist breaking on impact, catch spills, and stop waste being taken out once it has reached the point of disposal.

Field 04Storage

The code’s starting point: moving and storing waste must protect staff and public health at all times. From its transport and storage section:

State rule · Western Australia
  1. Trolleys that move clinical waste in plastic bags or fixed rigid containers are to be built to hold accidental leaks, kept for that use only, and cleaned regularly.
  2. Storage must be a dedicated clinical waste store that keeps waste types apart, labelled so it is obvious what is inside.
  3. Its floor is to be impervious, and it is to be able to hold any spill. Where waste could putrefy, the store is to pose no public health risk and have no effect on the work environment.
  4. Access must be restricted and the area lockable. It is to be kept clean, tidy and vermin-proof, with clean-up equipment, spill kits, protective equipment and hand washing facilities to hand.
  5. Pharmaceutical and cytotoxic waste must be stored where it cannot contaminate food and unauthorised people cannot reach it. Pharmaceutical waste waiting for disposal must be kept from them as strictly as the medicines were while in use, and returned medicines waiting to be collected for incineration must be stored securely, away from stock in use.
  6. Schedule 8 medicines, the drugs of addiction, have special restrictions on their handling, and may be destroyed only by certain people set out in what the code calls the “Poisons Regulations 2016 (s145)”. There are also legislated requirements for recording their destruction. Until then they must be kept in a safe, or in a locked cupboard on a hospital ward staffed at all times.

Field 05Transport

The code’s central idea is the one a consignment note is built on: a WA Health facility stays responsible for its waste from where it is made until it is safely disposed of, whoever carries it.

  1. Preparation

    The facility is responsible for preparing clinical waste properly for safe transport.

  2. Carriage

    It contracts licensed carriers, as the Controlled Waste Regulations require, to carry the waste to the disposal site and track it there.

  3. Carrier licence

    Every waste holder must make sure its contracted carriers hold a licence and meet the requirements of WA’s Department of Water and Environmental Regulation (DWER).

  4. Small loads

    WA Health facilities and organisations moving small volumes of clinical waste in vehicles not kept for it can apply for an exemption from a carrier licence (Part 4, clause 49(1) of the Controlled Waste Regulations). The waste must then travel in a rigid, leak-proof container, clearly labelled as the code sets out.

Field 06Treatment and disposal

The code gives treatment four aims: to make the waste as safe as possible for staff and the public, to limit its effect on the environment, to reduce its volume, and to change it physically so it can no longer be recognised. The code also says a treatment process must have automated process controls, including continuous monitoring, recording and shut-down mechanisms, and that WA Health facilities must make sure the treatment options they choose are approved under WA Health’s occupational safety and health guidelines and DWER’s controlled waste guidelines. The processes it lists as suitable for treating clinical waste are these.

The code’s list, in its order.
ProcessWhat it is
RecyclingRecovering materials that are not contaminated from products after use.
CompostingBreaking down biodegradable organic matter in an aerobic, biological process.
Sewage treatmentTreating raw sewage into a non-toxic liquid or a semi-solid sludge.
IncinerationBurning waste at high temperature, leaving an inert ash, carbon dioxide, water and few pollutants.
Autoclave and macerationSteam sterilisation, and breaking the waste into smaller pieces.
LandfillPlacing waste in a specially set aside area, in modern sites a lined, pre-built cell with emission controls.
State rule · Western Australia

The code’s treatment section puts cytotoxic drugs, pharmaceuticals and recognisable body parts in its highest-risk category. All three must be destroyed by high temperature incineration, at an authorised controlled waste facility.

Field 07Other states

Victoria and New South Wales work through their own bodies: see clinical waste in Victoria and clinical waste in New South Wales. How the code describes waste from home health care is in what counts as clinical waste. Back to the cover note.