Systems, dressings, and related methods, for providing reduced pressure to a tissue site on a patient are presented that involve using a self-contained reduced-pressure dressing. The dressing includes an absorbent pouch and an electronics pouch. The absorbent pouch has an absorbent for absorbing liquid from the tissue site, and the electronics pouch has a pump for applying reduced pressure to the tissue site through the absorbent pouch. The electronics pouch is removably coupled to the absorbent pouch such that the electronics pouch and absorbent pouch may be easily separated for disposal.