Bywaters Wins Multiple NHS Sustainability Awards 2017

At a ceremony held at Imperial College London on 17^th May, the results of the 2017 NHS Sustainability Awards were announced, with Bywaters and our clients receiving recognition in a variety of categories.

Many Bywaters Clients See Success at the 2017 NHS Sustainability Awards

These awards are a welcome acknowledgement of Bywaters’ contributions in healthcare waste management for Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) and Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust.

Bywaters, London’s largest NHS waste management services provider, is delighted to announce that Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust was highly commended in the Finance category, and Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital – another Bywaters client – was shortlisted as a finalist in the Reuse category.

Reusing Materials at Great Ormond Street Hospital

GOSH has significantly reduced the tonnage of bulk waste and waste electrical materials (WEEE) it produced each month throughout 2017. Through working with Bywaters’ account managers and Sustainability Team, a significant number of good quality, unneeded items are being reused by a network of charities through the use of an innovative mobile app.

It is envisaged that GOSH will save up to £20,000 per annum on disposal costs while helping charities such as The Salvation Army, EMMAUS, The Foodchain, and Groundwork, among many others.

Reusing materials is pivotal to waste management, appearing above recycling in the waste hierarchy as it saves waste from needing to be processed and recycled, and instead gives it a new lease of life elsewhere. Bywaters is proud to see the work carried out by our staff and GOSH this year in diverting more and more waste for reuse and helping charities across the UK.

Significant Waste Management Savings at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust

Guy’s and St. Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust manages over 5,000 tonnes of waste per annum from its two busy London hospitals. Bywaters has been working with the Trust to help it cut costs by reducing overall waste, correcting material segregation, and maximising recycling rates – especially with the trust’s clinical waste.

Today the Trust’s 15,000+ staff receive ongoing sustainability training in responsible waste management and are aware of their personal impact on the environment. These messages are endorsed via news updates, reward programmes, and signage, and have had a huge impact in reducing the cost of the Trust’s waste management – leaving more money available for the treatment of patients.

Improvements to Guys’ and St Thomas’ Onsite Infrastructure

Bywaters has made the following improvements to the Trust’s infrastructure to increase the efficiency of waste management, enabling a service tailored to make the biggest possible impact:

• An onsite weigh-bridge system has been installed and acts as a real-time waste auditing tool to help assess which areas need improvement, and adapt to data in real time.
• Additionally, new bar-coded bins reveal which wards generate high levels of waste so that waste managers can take steps to maximise recycling rates without diluting service quality, efficiency and compliance.
• Using the data we collect, it has been possible to place bins strategically throughout the wards, which has seen an increase in recycling diverted each month of around 80 tonnes each month.

As a result of these, and other initiatives, the Trust received a 91% score on the Carbon Trust Waste Standard – showing a significant reduction in carbon emissions as well as costs.

Reducing waste and increasing cost savings is high on the Trust’s agenda in order to free up money for patient care. Bywaters is proud of the savings we’ve managed to bring to Guy’s and St Thomas’ and the impact it has on the level of care they can provide.

A Fantastic Day for Bywaters

We’re proud of the results we have managed to achieve with our NHS clients in 2017, and to have all our hard work recognised at the NHS Sustainability Awards is a a great achievement. There are still many improvements we can make to both Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust and Great Ormond Street Hospital, and we look forward to more days like this and award wins in the future.

Bywaters was also represented on stage by Ed van Reenen, our Head of Health & Sustainability, who presented the award in the Waste Category, and reflected on the inspirational and tangible sustainability improvements that projects all in the room were delivering.

He also offered congratulations to Central Manchester University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust which won the award in this category – showing the brilliant work being done in healthcare waste management across the UK.