https://www.gov.uk/guidance/coronavirus-covid-19-disposing-of-waste?utm_source=9742866f-a0c4-4e00-ba29-43f523670856&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=govuk-notifications&utm_content=immediate

Link to the official Govt guidance.

The link is correct but it is new guidance only issued yesterday (13 July).

What you have probably witnessed is that there used to be a requirement to segregate any 'Covid' waste for 72hrs prior to disposal.

In fact the 72hrs still exists for PPE and cleaning waste if the cleaning is after a possible Covid-19 case.

The "guidance" linked seemd to suggest that 72 hours was only needed if you are self isolating. 

"If you are self isolating.......Store them for 72 hours before putting them in a 'Black Bag' waste bin

Further up the page it states you

"Do not need to .... store them for a time before throwing them away"

And just below the self isolating bit you have

"if you run a business or organisation ... you should....provide extra bins for your staff and customers to throw away their waste face coverings....", nothing in that bit about waiting 72 hours.

So if we are to dispose of used masks in black bags but have no need to quarentine them for 72hrs because there is no COVID threat, why can't we put them in the normal waste pathway? Why do we need a separate bag for masks? Surely to make it worthwhile of using a new black bag you are going to need a few masks to fill it up.

I know it's only a small cost but are they really advocating using a black bag for masks, in my clients office there are 20 people. Some managers visit engrs onsite and bring their masks back to the office to dispose of. So we'd see maybe a dozen or so a week. Our policy is that bins are emptied as and when needed but every Fri regardless of contents. So they want a dozen masks to be disposed of in a black bag rather than being disposed of in the normal rubbish.

Talk about increasing the waste flow for a company. Not exactly ISO14001 compliant