East Cheshire NHS Trust outsources all its waste management to SRCL

East Cheshire NHS Trust has become the first organisation to sign up to SRCL’s new Integrated Waste Stream Solutions (IWSS) offer. Using SRCL’s dedicated healthcare waste management expertise, East Cheshire NHS Trust will take a more sustainable approach to its waste management.

The contract covers the Trust’s main hospital in Macclesfield, as well as eight further hospitals and clinics across Cheshire and sees SRCL managing all clinical and domestic waste disposal and mixed dry recycling including materials such as cardboard, paper, waste electronics and IT equipment, and glass.

This is the first time that East Cheshire NHS Trust has brought all its waste streams together under the management of one provider. The move is a result of the Trust consolidating its existing contracts with SRCL in order to take a more holistic approach to managing the Trust’s multiple waste streams. This integrated approach will enable SRCL to take overall responsibility for all waste produced across the Trust and identify the most efficient and effective segregation processes and recycling options to ensure that all healthcare waste is handled appropriately.

Neil Barker, IWSS manager at SRCL, comments: "We believe that a further 50 – 60 per cent of healthcare waste currently produced could in fact be recycled. However, the challenge in this busy environment is ensuring that it is segregated correctly. Reducing the spread of infection is paramount, however greater education of what waste should go in which bin will help Trusts make significant steps forward in improving recycling rates, and ultimately ensuring that waste is sent to the correct treatment option."

Clinical waste disposal requires the incineration of highly infectious items. This makes it the most expensive disposal route. By separating out materials that can be sent for alternative treatment or recycling, resource efficiency can be improved and costs can be saved. SRCL will be providing training to frontline staff and introducing a waste segregation and diversion system to wards, communal areas and offices.

Janet Moore, strategic procurement manager at East Cheshire NHS Trust, adds: "The Trust has set itself objectives for reducing waste and carbon. The IWSS offer from SRCL stood out as an effective way for us to improve our practices both within the clinical environment and in how our waste is handled off site. With SRCL undertaking management of all our waste streams, we are confident that this overarching approach will enable us to quickly identify areas where we can make significant achievements in reducing waste to landfill and improving recycling rates."