Our award-winning work on waste
I do this job because I believe we should do everything we can, with the resources given to us, to reduce our negative impact on the environment. I am really pleased to see the lively discussions taking place on WeShare about the Trust’s green credentials. These show that many of you share my passion; and it means we can work together to see even better results.
There’s a great deal we can celebrate already.
Hospitals create huge amounts of waste, including clinical waste. Expired medicines, medical packaging, used syringes, empty bottles and cans, uneaten food, broken or damaged furnishings are just some examples. It might surprise you then, to learn that we have sent no waste to landfill since we became a Trust, and in some of our hospitals, for many years before that. Instead, all of non-clinical waste is either reused, recycled or sent to waste to energy plants, where electricity is generated. All of our clinical waste is treated in one form or another to render it safe, but ultimately, most is used to fuel the National Grid. The exception is for clinical waste at Whipps Cross Hospital, where we have our own clinical waste treatment plant.
In 2016, we were the first NHS trust in the UK to use Eurotec Environmental’s innovative steriwave technology, which microwaves and turns the hospital’s offensive and infectious clinical waste bag waste into a product called flock. This waste is then used as a fuel in the Netherlands to heat housing projects. If you’re wondering why don’t we use it to do the same in our country, it is because the Environment Agency does not license this flock as a fuel to be used in the UK.
We’ve won national awards and accreditation for the ways in which we manage waste. In 2014, we were the first NHS trust to receive the Carbon Trust Standard for Waste Reduction. In this year, we also received a Green Apple Award for innovation, for being the first NHS trust to use re-vending machines in our hospitals, helping staff and visitors to recycle their empty plastic bottles and metal cans.
In 2017 we were finalists in the Chartered Institute of Waste Management Sustainability and Resource Awards for the Best Reuse and Waste Prevention Project. And in 2018, we won two National Awards - one at the NHS Sustainability Awards for the Best Reuse Project, and at the HSJ Value Awards, in the Estates and Facilities category, for our sustainable reuse and bulk waste prevention project.
In 2019, we received highly commended in the Clinical Engagement Award at the NHS Sustainability Awards and won, again, at this year’s HSJ Value Awards, in the Estates and Facilities category, for our exemplar waste compliance and behavioural change project. In addition to our award successes, the waste management team have saved the organisation nearly £2 million through better waste segregation and using greener, sustainable innovations.
These achievements have been possible thanks to our great waste management partnership with Skanska, to relationships with Serco and clinical staff, and to using collaborative, innovative solutions with Globechain, Premier Sustain and the Sust-N waste auditing team.
We continue to develop our sustainable reuse and bulk waste prevention project, renovating and reusing redundant office furnishings, providing suitable items for clinical environments, giving a longer life to tired seating arrangements and preventing unnecessary disposal to our hospital skips. What we cannot reuse ourselves, we attempt to pass on to local, national and international charitable organisations, community based schemes and social projects.
If you have questions about how to minimise waste disposal or reuse different types of waste, contact us.
Neil Allen
Waste manager