As one of the actions in it’s Green Plan, Mersey Care has signed up to the Single Use Plastics Reduction Pledge. Since implementing in 22/23, we have:
- Removed single-use plastic cutlery from cafes and replaced them with bioplastics, a lower carbon, biodegradable alternative
- Replaced plastic solid medication dispensing cups with paper alternatives across much of the in-patient services
- Continued to operate a co-mingled waste collection for general waste, meaning our general waste is sorted off-site, which results in a recycling rate of 40% (23/24) for all recyclable materia.
We continue to seek alternative disposal methods for our difficult to manage waste streams (such as mattresses), to ensure that we find the best solution for all our wastes.
Disposable tourniquets
In the 23/24 financial year, we ran a project to reduce the reliance on single use tourniquets across the Trust.
These have largely been replaced by the Daisy Grip reusable tourniquet. This has led to a reduction of up to 342,000 single use tourniquets, saving around £25,000 and removing 1 tonne of waste from our waste management practices.
During the 22/23 financial year, Mersey Care achieved a recycling rate of 31% which is primarily due to the co-mingles waste management practice for the general waste stream. In the 23/24 financial year, we achieved a recycling rate of 40%, this is due to improved waste segregation and a change in the disposal of mattresses. In December 2023, we began to use a mattress recycling company that strips mattresses down to their components and recycles each part.
Plastic is a material that is designed to be strong and durable. Single-use plastics are products made with the same level of durability, however, are designed to be thrown away after one use, creating an extremely wasteful product cycle. The manufacturing of single-use plastics is reliant on non-renewable resources such as gas and oil, an energy intensive process which produces large volumes of air and water pollution. Without proper disposal or recycling these single-use plastics persist in the environment for hundreds of years, breaking into microplastics, contaminating waterways, polluting habitats and inflicting damage to wildlife habitats[1].
An estimated 9 billion tonnes of plastic have been produced since 1950 with only 9% having ever been recycled. Since 2020, more than 380 million tonnes of plastic have been produced annually, that’s more than 1 tonne per day.
Globally, the healthcare system consumes around 15 million tonnes of plastic annually, which is 4% of all plastic produced yearly2. Healthcare plastic waste is a mixture of both clinical (gloves, masks, syringes, tourniquets) and non-clinical items (drinking water cups, food packaging, disposable cutlery, mops).
The NHS is the biggest consumer of single-use plastics in Europe, during the COVID-19 pandemic this resulted in 2,500 tonnes of plastic waste every day[2]. In 2019 the NHS Long Term Plan called for a reduction in single-use plastics and instituted a Single-Use Plastics Reduction Pledge, with its initial focus on consumer and food & drink waste. NHS also released the Clinical Waste Strategy, outlining the Waste Hierarchy on how to deal with clinical waste[3].
Vast amounts of single use plastics are widely recyclable. The recyclability of a plastic product can be determined using its markers that are often located on the underside of the product.
|
Symbol |
Plastic Type |
Examples |
|
|
PETE (polyethylene terephthalate) |
Drinks bottles |
|
|
DHPE (high density polyethylene) |
Cleaning fluid bottles Cooking oil bottles |
|
|
PVC (polyvinyl chloride) |
Food trays Cling film |
|
|
LDPE (low density polyethylene) |
Compacted bottles Plastic bags Cling Film |
|
|
PP (polypropylene) |
Furnishings Luggage |
|
|
PS (polystyrene) |
Foam food containers Foam drinks cups |
|
|
Other |
Nylon Fibreglass |
By checking for the recycling triangle on the packaging before disposal, you can:
- prevent recyclable mixed materials from being incinerated
- Increase the recyclability of dry mixed recyclables
- Reduce the environmental impact of waste management.
Reuse your single use plastic as many times as possible. Use reusable shopping bags, buy loose fruit and vegetables, and use a water bottle and a water fountain.