Mapping Greener HealthcareMapping Greener Healthcare

Team Members

• Jemma Robinson - Facilities Operational Manager
• Carl Hyatt - PEAT Technician
• Matthew Robinson - PEAT Technician
• Claire Flanagan - Facilities Operational Manager
• Project Support - Matthew Quinton - Waste Compliance and Sustainability Manager 

Project Aims:

1. Successfully implement active dry mix recycling (DMR) and battery recycling through staff engagement and behaviour change, reducing the Trusts Carbon Emissions.
2. Engage and increase staff awareness on sustainable actions, via a bespoke’ Sustainability’ leaflet
3. Identify ways in which the PEAT team can show continuous commitment to sustainability across the Trust as part of the rolling PEAT programme, in support of the Trust Green Plan and net zero ambition. 

Background:

The Patient Environment Action Team (PEAT) undertake a range of tasks including complex cleaning, minor routine maintenance works and repair of defected equipment. Visiting over 60 clinical areas annually, we felt they could play an active role in sustainable practice via meaningful engagement with clinical teams. Strategic choice of project: Recycling is highlighted as a key area of focus in the Trusts Green Plan and is one of the most common requests the sustainability team are asked about. Not only is domestic and clinical waste more costly to the Trust than recycling, but incorrect disposal of hazardous waste such as batteries, could result in additional cost in the form of fines issued to the trust due to non-compliance of appropriate waste disposal. Batteries are a hazardous waste and have potentially toxic metals which can leak into landfills and pollute drinking water if managed inappropriately.

Approach:

Studying the system:An audit established that only 4/56 areas were actively using dry mix recycling (DMR). 0/56 areas had access to battery bins. For most areas, batteries were being placed in a Sharp Smart Waste container.

Engagement: We spoke with clinical staff during our audit, and pleasingly, found they were appreciative of the PEAT work and reported access to DMR and battery recycling would be valuable to them. - We also engaged Matthew Quinton, Waste Compliance and Sustainability Manager, who confirmed that the incorrect disposal methods currently used were costly to the Trust. Access to appropriate battery recycling had also recently been identified as an action for the Trust following an external Waste management audit.

Changes implemented:

DMR and battery recycling bins were installed in areas on the PEAT schedule to ensure viability and sustainability of the project long-term. DMR bins were placed in non-patient facing, clinical staff break rooms only for trial. For the duration of the project, to minimise cross-contamination risks, full battery bins were collected by the PEAT team following contact from the ward clerk. However, a longer-term collection plan of adding this to the trust porter system is being considered. Batteries are collected via the Battery Back Scheme operated by WasteCare.

A sustainability leaflet was shared with clinical areas, including useful contact numbers, information on the Leeds GRASP rewards, Carbon Literacy training, and PEAT ‘let us help you’ section. Contact details for the Trust Sustainability team were also left in a sustainability leaflet, should clinical teams wish to request implementation of DMR in clinical areas.

We successfully initiated and installed DMR and battery recycling for trial across 7 clinical areas.

Measurement

Data was collected between the 7/2/2022 and 18/2/2022.

Environmental: Average number and weight of DMR and battery waste in tonnes was used to calculate carbon savings.

Financial: Matthew Quinton, Waste Compliance and Sustainability Manager, provided costs of various wastes streams to the trust. Prior to implementation of DMR, all waste was disposed of via domestic waste at £97.00 per Tonne. As batteries were being disposed of via sharps bins, an assumption was made that batteries were previously disposed of in clinical waste, and therefore incinerated at £925.00 per Tonne. Use of DMR would reduce the cost to £89.00 per Tonne for recycling. Battery collection is free to the Trust.

Social: Informal feedback was gained by engagement with clinical staff.

Results:

Environmental benefit:

• DMR: Waste disposal emissions were reduced by 9.47 kgCO2e for the 7 areas per week (492.89 kgCO2e per year). If applied to the remaining 79 areas (excluding 4 that already had DMR), the projected annual saving is 5562.62 kgCO2e. 
• Battery bins: Emissions reduced by 1.25 kgCO2e on average per week, per trial area. Due to the nature of clinical work, there will be significant variation in how quickly areas fill Battery Bins, making it challenging to accurately project data. We have therefore projected the annual potential savings of battery recycling as a percentage of our actual data. Projected at 70%, the potential annual saving across the 7 trial areas would be 318.5 kgCO2e. As a conservative estimate, if we apply battery recycling across the remaining 76 areas in the trust with 30% applicability, an additional 1,482 kg CO2e could be saved across the Trust. 

Financial benefit:

• DMR in the 7 trial areas saved the Trust approximately 50p per week, with an annual saving of £26.11. If applied to the other 79.00 areas with no DMR this would be a projected annual saving of £294.71. 
• Battery recycling saved £1.15 on average per area per week. Projected at 70%, there is a potential annual saving of £291.20. Projected at a conservative 30% across remaining 76 areas £1,358 could be saved annually across the Trust. 

Social sustainability: Engagement with clinical teams showed that staff care about becoming more sustainable. The sustainability leaflet has supported awareness and so far, the sustainability team have received three emails to request DMR recycling in clinical areas. Matron, Honey from Ward J04 said

“The implementation of DMR and Battery recycling has been very beneficial to the area as it is cost effective and good for the environment” and

”The PEAT team are an asset to the Trust, very helpful and always willing to go above and beyond in their works, improving the Patient Environment”.

Steps taken to ensure lasting change and conclusion:

Meaningful engagement between PEAT Technicians and clinical staff has been key to successful implementation of this project. Whilst continued long-term implementation of DMR and Battery bin recycling will transition to the Trust’s Sustainability team, we feel our project has shown that all staff have a role to play in achieving net zero ambitions. We will continue to embed sustainable improvements into our work. A sustainability assurance section has been added to the PEAT ‘works carried out sign off sheet’ including staff engagement actions to promote the aims of this project. Two successful stock room reviews have been carried out jointly with ward clerks with issues including out of date stock, stock no longer required in the area, and ample stock with ongoing continuous orders risking additional out of date items noted. We are continuing to ‘study the system’ and identify change ideas jointly with clinical teams to support streamlining stock ordering and storage management.