BVA updates hazardous waste guide
The British Veterinary Association (BVA) has updated its 'Good Practice Guide to Handling Veterinary Waste' to take account of changing legislation in England and Wales. Similar advice for Scotland and Northern Ireland will be available in due course.
Sanctioned by the Environment Agency, the Guide includes a quick-reference poster designed to help veterinary surgeons and veterinary nurses categorise and segregate potentially hazardous veterinary waste in accordance with the latest Environment Agency requirements. The poster classifies the varying types of hazardous waste, clarifies the types of containers required and confirms the appropriate classification codes.
Commenting, BVA President Carl Padgett said “All businesses have a duty of care to ensure that all waste is stored and disposed of responsibly, that it is only handled or dealt with by those authorised to do so and that appropriate records are kept of all waste that is transferred or received. The BVA Guide has been a popular resource for the profession since we first launched it in 2008 making it considerably easier for vets to comply with Hazardous Waste Regulations. The revised poster is hopefully an incentive for practices to check if their requirements have changed and ensure they’re still up-to-date.”
The Guide is released alongside online guidance which goes into greater detail and can be downloaded. The hazardous waste poster and web advice are available at http://www.bva.co.uk/activity_and_advice/1641.aspx.
Veterinary practices are being urged to help owners safely dispose of any unused and expired pet medicines - not just antibiotics - during November's Animal Medicines Amnesty. 
