The short answer
A tiger bag, yellow with black stripes, is for offensive or hygiene waste: items from healthcare or personal care that are not infectious and contain no medicines or chemicals, such as incontinence pads, sanitary waste, couch roll and gloves from routine care. Never put sharps, medicines or anything from an infectious patient in one. Tiger-bag waste is not hazardous, so it is far cheaper to collect than clinical waste.
On this page
The yellow and black striped bag is the most misunderstood container in healthcare waste. Used well, it is also the one that saves a practice the most money.
What a tiger bag is for
In England, the Environment Agency’s guidance says offensive waste goes in yellow bags with a black stripe, known as tiger bags. Offensive waste is waste that:
- is not infectious;
- contains no medicines or chemicals;
- may still be unpleasant to look at or smell, so it should not go in an ordinary bin.
It is not hazardous waste. It can go to energy from waste or, in some cases, landfill, rather than to high-temperature incineration or alternative treatment.
What goes in a tiger bag
- Incontinence pads and nappies from people with no known infection
- Sanitary towels and tampons
- Stoma and catheter bags, emptied, from patients with no infection
- Couch roll and paper sheets from routine examinations
- Gloves and aprons used for care with no infection risk
- Plaster casts with no infection
- Waxing strips and wipes from beauty treatments with no blood on them
What never goes in a tiger bag
| Item | Where it goes instead |
|---|---|
| Any sharp, however small | Sharps bin with the right lid colour |
| Dressings or pads from a patient with a known or suspected infection | Orange bag |
| Anything contaminated with medicines | Yellow or blue |
| Anything used with cytotoxic drugs | Purple |
| Tissue or body parts | Red |
| Paper hand towels and packaging | Ordinary waste |
When in doubt, treat the waste as infectious and use the orange bag.
Who decides?
The person producing the waste, following the practice’s infection control policy. In a care home that usually means a care plan says whether a resident has a known infection. In a surgery it is the clinician’s judgement at the time.
Your contractor’s pre-acceptance audit records which rooms produce tiger-bag waste. If staff change what they put in the bags, tell the contractor, because the treatment site will check loads against the audit.
Why tiger bags lower costs
Offensive waste is cheaper to carry and treat than clinical waste. One council’s published commercial tariff for 2026/27 shows the gap:
| 240 litre wheeled bin, weekly lift | Price |
|---|---|
| Clinical waste, with disposal | £52.75 |
| Hygiene waste, with disposal | £9.61 |
Private prices vary, but the gap is similar in kind. NHS England’s HTM 07-01 aims for 60% of healthcare waste to be segregated as offensive waste by 2026. Many practices are far below that because staff put everything in orange bags out of caution.
Paperwork for tiger bags
Because offensive waste is not hazardous, it moves on a waste transfer note, not a consignment note. A single transfer note can cover a year of identical collections, and you keep it for two years. The code is 18 01 04 for human healthcare and 18 02 03 for animal healthcare. Similar waste from outside healthcare, such as office sanitary bins, uses 20 01 99.
Questions people ask
Are tiger bags clinical waste?
No. Tiger bags hold offensive waste, which is not clinical waste in the legal sense because it is not infectious and has no medicines in it.
Can tiger bags go in general waste?
Not in an ordinary black bag. Offensive waste should be collected separately by a registered carrier, but it does not need the hazardous paperwork or treatment that clinical waste does.
Do care homes use tiger bags?
Yes, and they are usually the largest stream in a care home. See our care home clinical waste page.
To price tiger-bag and clinical collections side by side, try the cost estimator or use the form below.
Where our information comes from
- GOV.UK: healthcare waste, managing healthcare wastes (read 2 November 2026)
- Environment Agency: types of healthcare waste by packaging colour (read 2 November 2026)
- NHS England: HTM 07-01, 2022 edition, section 2.8 (read 2 November 2026)
- South Derbyshire District Council: fees and charges, waste, 2026/27 (read 2 November 2026)