Driving sustainability and cutting emissions
Ahead of the redevelopment of Whipps Cross, several schemes have been rolled out in the current hospital to reduce the amount of waste generated, to reuse more materials, and to increase our recycling rates and therefore reduce the amount of waste we send to landfill.
In partnership with Globechain, we are ‘deferring’ the creation of carbon emissions by donating items we no longer need in the hospital for reuse by others.
Between October 2023 and September 2024, we were able to ‘defer’ a total of 1.3 tonnes of carbon emissions. That’s the equivalent of the carbon dioxide produced by a petrol-fuelled car over a three-month period. By not sending this waste to landfill we were also able to save almost £52,000.
Across the hospital, staff have also been working to reduce the amount of clinical and general waste being generated. Clinical waste was down by three tonnes between October 2023 and October 2024, and the figure for general waste was down by 34 tonnes over the same period.
This success has been down to projects such as reducing the unnecessary use of single use plastic gloves, switching to reusable ‘sharps’ containers to dispose of needles, syringes and other ‘sharp’ equipment, and the roll out of many more recycling bins to make it easier for staff, patients and visitors to recycle.
Over the coming months we’ll be talking more about how we are reducing the impact of the current Whipps Cross on the environment and about our sustainability plans for the redevelopment of the whole hospital site, including how we’ll be planting hundreds of trees and improving biodiversity.
If you are a member of staff who wants to divert items for reuse through the Globechain partnership, please contact george.welch-williams@nhs.net