In the first week at home, many families notice the bin before anything else. Gloves, wipes, used underpads, empty packaging, tissues, and the small pile of things nobody meant to throw away all have to go somewhere, and the house has to be able to send them out.
Local option: New Plan Care gives families in the St. Louis area in-home help so a parent can stay home: companionship, help with bathing and dressing, meals, and overnight care. Call (314) 405-0887.
This is the unglamorous part of keeping someone at home on hospice. It does not appear on the visit schedule. It lands on whoever is standing in the kitchen when the bag is full.
Ask the hospice what it expects the house to do
At the nurse's next visit, ask what the household is expected to do with each kind of waste. Ask whether a sharps container is part of the supplies, how it gets filled, and how a full one leaves the house. Ask what the hospice takes away on its visits, if anything. Do not assume it takes anything until someone tells you so, and write down who said it and on what day.
Unused or expired medicine is a separate question. It stays with the family, the doctor and the pharmacist. Ask them directly, and do not put medicine in the trash until one of them has told you how to handle it.
Check the rules of your own collection
Collection rules differ from one city or county to another in St. Louis County. They cover which day the bin goes out, how many bags are allowed, whether bags must be in a lidded container, and whether the hauler takes medical or sharps waste at all. Call your city or your hauler and ask those exact questions. Write the answers on the card you keep near the phone, so the next person does not have to guess.
Name the carrier, the waiting spot, and the swap
There are three jobs here: carrying the bags out, keeping the lidded bin clean and lined, and noticing when it is nearly full. Name a person for each one, even if the same person ends up doing all three. The waiting spot matters. A covered bin by the back door or in the garage works better than one in the bedroom or on the kitchen counter. Keep spare liners on the same shelf as the other supplies, so nobody has to search for them at the moment they are needed.
Decide what happens on the bad days
Plan for the day the bin overflows, the day the hauler skips the street, a holiday change to the pickup, and a storm that keeps everyone indoors. Write down the backup: which neighbor or relative can take a bag, and where extra bags can wait until the next collection. Keep anything that does not belong in the recycling out of the recycling.
The part nobody puts on the list
Someone will be the one who notices the smell, the stain on the bin, and the bag tied and set by the door. That person is doing real work that the rest of the family may not see. Tell them so. If it falls on one person every day, the plan is not finished. Put the job on the shared list with a name beside it, and move the name when the week changes.
You will not need every item on this list every day. You will need it on the day the bag is full.