At the end of 2020, the NHS revealed plans to become the first national health service in the world to achieve net zero carbon emissions, aiming to achieve the feat within 20 years. Yet, research published in May 2021 shows that just 56 per cent of NHS Trusts are actively planning toward a sustainable future, suggesting that there is still much to do.
Highlighting the findings of that research published by the Health Estate Journal, David Williams, Director of Permit Compliance and Government Affairs for the EMEA [Europe, Middle East, Africa] region at Stericycle, says that better segregation of healthcare waste will be a major factor in the health service’s effort to go greener.
Williams explains: “With a significant target to meet, the NHS is going to have to pull out all the stops across its entire estate across the country, leaving no stone unturned. One of its greatest challenges will be how it sustainably manages its clinical waste in 20 years, to ensure it has minimised its impact on the environment in this area.
“Achieving a more efficient waste disposal system for every NHS hospital and Trust is going to be crucial to meeting the overall net zero target and reducing costs for each hospital as well.”
Such a monumental effort will undoubtedly require input from all NHS stakeholders, from estates directors right down to frontline personnel who will be responsible for the day-to-day disposal of clinical waste.
Beth Goodwin from sustainability consultancy Inenco that collaborated with the Health Estate Journal on its study commented: “While sustainability is an initiative placed at the door of Estates Departments, in order to achieve the ambitious targets, set by NHS England last October, all areas of Trusts will need to make changes to drive change.”
One of the changes that Williams suggests to be made is the implementation of effective waste segregation at the point of disposal within NHS hospitals, and education is likely to play a key role in this.
Williams elaborates: “While compliance around waste segregation will have been challenged during the last 12 months with frontline staff under immense pressure as a result of dealing with the pandemic, it will be critical to get this back on course.
“Continuous education of, and awareness amongst, staff on the subject of healthcare waste segregation is crucially important. Firstly, Trusts must ensure they know about the different types of healthcare waste that need specialist treatment to render them safe, and which colour coded bags, plastic containers and/or cardboard boxes they need to go in. Secondly, and of equal importance, ensure they know about the waste materials that do not need specialist treatment to render them safe and may be suitable for recycling or recovery waste streams.
“Improving education and compliance will lay the groundwork for maximising the capability of future advances in technology that will drive recycling rates through increasing source segregated recyclables and also through post-treatment materials separation. All of this will ultimately reduce the amount of residual waste that needs to be incinerated and landfilled.”
A key part of improving education and compliance will be keeping learning content on the matter varied, fresh and compelling. One manner in which Williams suggests the health service could approach this is by using real-world applications and offering learning through online learning tools and immersive experiences.
“The approach to education on waste segregation is also critical to increasing compliance levels. Keep it varied, fresh and compelling and ensure real-world applications so staff can easily apply what they learn to their day-to-day work. Offer online learning tools so that colleagues can access training at a time that suits them. Make the learning process fun using quizzes and contests. And do not forget to put up signs and posters to help reinforce segregation procedures.”
Another important factor for NHS Trusts will revolve around how compliance with appropriate waste segregation is monitored. This, according to Williams, will make tracking progress a far less arduous task and allow Trusts to regularly update staff on how their actions are having a material and beneficial impact on the environment.
Although there remains a need for further action in the waste segregation sphere, the NHS is already implementing waste management initiatives that are yielding success. Williams points out that under the health service’s plastics reduction pledge, one Trust reported that it had diverted 200,000 single-use plastic items from its waste stream in 2019/20. This helped save on four tonnes of waste per year and more than £12,000 annual costs on packaging, delivery and disposal processes.
Williams concludes: “This example demonstrates what can be achieved through ensuring the highest standards of waste segregation across the NHS estate. The timing to get staff fully on board with such a process is perfect as the health service is launching its Greener NHS Staff campaign which will see 100,000 members of its staff pledge to cut their own personal carbon footprints.”
