Customer Success at the 2021 Green Apple Environment Awards
Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust & Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust secure winners’ spot at the 2021 Green Apple Environment Awards Awards!
Launched in 1994, the Green Apple Organisation and their international award ceremonies have become a pillar of the environmental community, rewarding, and promoting best practice. With nominees and winners from across multiple industries, communities, and organisations, the Green Apple awards are some one of the biggest environmental celebrations in the world.
The Winning Nominations
Both Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust secured winning nominations (supported by Sharpsmart Ltd), enclosed by providing detailed accounts of how the installation of a reusable sharps container system supported the trusts to:
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Improve waste segregation,
- Improve compliance in line with the British standard (BS EN ISO 23907-2019 part 2) and Health and Safety (Sharps Instruments in Healthcare) Regulations 2013,
- Make substantial reductions in associated costs of procuring single- use plastic sharps bins and the subsequent disposal costs,
- Significantly reduce CO2 emissions associated the sharps container consumption, and
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Successfully divert waste away from high temperature incineration.
Since June 2019, Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust secure have reduced their carbon footprint by 58 tonnes per year, diverting 10.2 tonnes of single- use plastic from high temperature incineration. In total, the trust has removed an incredible 20,500 kilos of single- use plastics from the sharps waste stream, preventing 116 tonnes of CO2e.
Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust also implemented the same reusable containment system in the same year. Since then, the installation of this system has removed the need for over 50,000 single-use plastic containers, equivalent to the consumption of 30 tonnes of plastic. In turn, this has reduced associated CO2 emissions by 148 tonnes, with 46.4 tonnes of sharps waste being diverted from high temperature incineration.
A Sustainable Future
Due to the durability of the installed reusable containment systems, the trusts will not require any further containers for a number of years, resulting in further reductions in CO2 emissions and the continued diversion of sharps waste from incineration.
We would like to congratulate our partners on this notable achievement and look forward to continuing our journey with them to make healthcare safer and more sustainable.
Experience the sustainable #SharpsmartDifference
Sharpsmart is commited to being your healthcare waste management provider and partnering with you to help you achieve a sustainable future. Let us work together to drive change within your facility and move your sustainability initiatves in the right direction. If you're not sure where to start, get in touch with our expert team for a consultation and to start the journey to reducing your carbon footprint.
