Climate Week 2024 - Waste Management
Right Bin, Right Waste – NHS DG’s push to Net Zero
NHS DUMFRIES and Galloway’s push to reach Net Zero targets has found a new target – cutting the amount of waste that it incinerates every day.
Clinical waste includes used masks and gloves, needles, medical equipment, and anything else contaminated with blood or other bodily fluids. Because of the risk of spreading infection, it’s put in a separate orange bin. It can’t be handled like other rubbish – recycled, burned to generate electricity, or sent to a landfill. It must be incinerated safely at high temperature.
NHS DG specialty doctor in cardiology, and head of the Green Clinical Network, Katie Percival explains the problem: “Orange bin waste costs the Health Board more than ten times as much to dispose of as black bin waste, because it’s really reserved for clinical waste that needs to be incinerated at high temperatures, which means it has a higher carbon footprint too.”
And clinical waste travels further – it is generally sent to a contractor in Shotts, which means still more emissions from the longer drive. Non-clinical waste is handled locally by contractors in and around Dumfries.
The result is that orange bins produce just 31% of NHS DG waste, but getting rid of their contents produces 87% of waste emissions. This makes it vital to use them only for waste that actually needs to be incinerated.
Stickers went on to every bin in NHS DG hospitals this month to remind staff of this, and they’re already having an impact.
Clinical psychologist Mieke McKend said: “The stickers have totally changed my bin habits! Now next to nothing goes in that orange bin.”
NHS DG cardiology lead Sue Bryant said: “The stickers are a good reminder as to the cost of waste disposal and the impact of its journey. I recycle at home obsessively, but at work not so much until now.”
As well as cutting emissions, the project is also aimed at saving money. It’s expensive to collect orange bins, and for safety reasons they must be emptied every 48 hours. If they’re only used for clinical waste, smaller and cheaper bins can be used – and the cost of incinerating their contents will go down.
Focus on waste helping NHS Board towards Net Zero status
Clean waste disposal is a key part of NHS Dumfries and Galloway’s route to net zero emissions by the year 2040. Already, the Board sends nothing to landfill sites – 65% of non-clinical waste is recycled and the rest is used to create energy. This has allowed the board to cut its greenhouse emissions from waste by 29% in the last four years. Reaching the Board’s target of 75% recycling will cut emissions still further.
David Bryson is General Manager of Operational Services, and he said: “Our entire organisation is committed to achieving a net zero status by the year 2040.
“A key part of making that a reality is through effective recycling of the large amount of waste that is produced day-to-day at sites across our region.
“This can range from cardboard and plastic packaging to mattresses, carpeting, scrap metal, and even soil and rubble when work is taking place at a site.
“I’m very pleased to highlight a report which points to the very well-developed and highly efficient system we have in place to ensure that all of NHS Dumfries and Galloway’s waste is processed in a way to ensure the best outcomes for our environment.”
Sixteen distinct types of waste from the board’s sites are separated out before going off to be processed. This includes wood, UPVC, glass, plasterboard, oils and lubricants, and even tyres.
All non-clinical waste is first weighed in by the Dumfries-based waste management contractor, Oakbank, on industrial scales, before pieces of recyclable waste are segregated out and moved by a digger into separate bays. Further segregation takes place on the remaining non-recyclable waste, before it is shredded and it moves along an automated ‘picking line’ for further segregation.
Eventually, once all the recyclable material has been picked out, what remains is refuse-derived fuel (RDF), sent to an energy-from-waste plant to be burned. Instead of sending materials such as non-recyclable plastic to sit in landfill sites for hundreds of years, they can instead be used to generate heat and power.
Meanwhile, some recyclable items like cardboard are baled and stacked safely in dry storage before being transported off-site for recycling.
Segregated hard plastic is shredded before being transported to the recycling processor, which then separates, washes and shreds the materials to produce resins. These resins are then used to create more plastic products.
Material from digging and other groundwork is screened by size for use in construction to create either stone, three-inch stone or inert fine materials.
Wood waste is shredded and processed before being used as A-Grade biomass fuel to produce heat and power, as surfacing for horse arenas, and as the walkway surfaces employed in woodlands.
Green waste is also commonly referred to as ‘biological waste’. It is any organic waste that can be composted – and includes the grass cut at many of the green estates surrounding NHS sites. After eight weeks in open windrows, regularly turned, the waste becomes compost which is ready to be used.
Scrap metal is separated into ferrous or non-ferrous, before being sold as scrap.
Mr Bryson said: “When people think about the NHS in Dumfries and Galloway, they most likely immediately think about medical staff providing treatment and care to patients.
“However, there’s a huge amount of work going on behind the scenes in support of this, and an extremely well-organised system to ensure that all the waste materials which inevitably result daily from such a big organisation are being disposed of correctly.
“The top priority of NHS Dumfries and Galloway is our patients, and looking after people in communities across our region, but our commitment to these net zero goals is another fundamental commitment.
“The outcome from these actions – a healthier and more sustainable environment – can only benefit everybody living within our region, and support happier, healthier living.”