Watch Your Waste is a campaign to promote how NHSGGC can reduce its carbon footprint and save money at the same time.
What we use and how we dispose of it has a huge impact not only on our finances but the environment and population health too.
One of the easiest ways to do this is by making sure that clinical waste and non-clinical waste is disposed of properly.
Operational Waste Manager Paul Allan said: “We can all make a difference to the impact waste disposal has on our services by following simple steps to ensure that the correct materials are in the correct bins.
“Making sure these best practices are followed every day can help reduce not just the environmental impact, but also the financial implications for how we operate.”
Every year, NHSGGC has to process more than 9,000 tonnes of clinical and non-clinical waste, which costs more than £3million annually.
It might seem obvious that empty soft drink cans are not clinical waste – but they can sometimes end up in orange clinical waste bags, the disposal of which is charged for by weight.
It costs three times more to dispose of clinical waste that non-clinical waste (£503 per tonne for clinical waste, £160 for non-clinical waste) and seven times more than recyclable waste.
And as up to 50 per cent of the contents of the average orange bag is not clinical waste, using the right bin for the right waste could make a huge difference to the overall cost of waste disposal for NHSGGC.
As well as the cost savings, reducing contamination of orange waste by just 10 per cent would be the equivalent of planting almost 1,700 trees.
By following simple daily practices – and helping patients and visitors understand these practices so that they can help as well – could make significant savings to the amount spent by NHSGGC on waste disposal.
So let’s all become Green Avengers and make these simple changes for the NHS and the environment and start taking those extra few seconds to dispose of our waste products in the correct way.
For more information, visit: www.nhsggc.scot/watchyourwaste
