On average, the NHS produces 250,000 tonnes of waste per year*. This costs the NHS over £40 million and is linked to the organisation's carbon footprint which results in 18 million tonnes of CO2 being emitted each year. These figures reflect the nature of the activities of one of the country's largest service providers. They also indicate that resource efficiency is the primary means by which the NHS will reduce its heavy environmental impact.
Steve Ogden is a project manager for CO2Sense Yorkshire, a not-for-profit company funded by Yorkshire Forward and the European Regional Development Fund. He previously worked in waste management consultancy for clients including Defra, WRAP and numerous local authorities. CO2Sense Yorkshire has discovered that one of the biggest challenges Health Trusts face in tackling waste issues is related to the provision of clear and accurate data. We recently funded and commissioned environmental audits on behalf of six regional NHS trusts in Yorkshire and Humber. These revealed that limited levels of information are held regarding the quantities, types and cost of wastes being generated. This lack of baseline data means Trusts often struggle to make basic improvements in wastes management without external support – they don't have the information to be able to identify and prioritise opportunities for efficiency savings.
There are opportunities to make low or no cost efficiencies in any organisation. Efficiencies estimated to be worth £553 million a year in Yorkshire and Humber alone. We think a lot can be achieved simply by sharing our resource efficiency knowledge and experience with the NHS, and we are in the process of doing that.
CO2Sense Yorkshire has helped NHS Trusts to introduce resource efficiency action plans that identify significant environmental and financial savings. Generic guidance has also been developed to help Trusts conduct their own audits and start to become more resource efficient. This will soon be made available via an online network available through the CO2Sense Yorkshire website www.CO2Sense.org.uk
CO2Sense Yorkshire has also demonstrated that there are real opportunities to make significant carbon and financial savings by implementing simple sustainable waste management measures, such as waste prevention, minimisation and recycling, all of which can be done without compromising the protection of human health.
Good diagnostics and the sharing of best practice will remedy many of the waste management problems that our audits of NHS Trusts revealed. CO2Sense Yorkshire's partnerships with NHS Trusts will hopefully inspire others to make similar commitments to resource efficiency.
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