Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what arrangements he has put in place for the disposal or recycling of single use plastic swabs being used for covid-19 tests by the NHS.
Recycling is not currently an option for used plastic swabs and the associated lateral flow device test kit. The preferred waste management route is via energy recovery. However, landfill can be utilised if energy recovery is not available.