1. Seminar on September 25 (Sharpsmart: making healthcare safer http://http://sharpsmart.co.uk/ )
The Healthcare Waste and Resources Research Group will be hosting a seminar focusing on treatment technologies and recovering value from healthcare waste, on Thursday September 25.
It will be held at the Bywaters’ recycling facility, in East London. The morning session will be dedicated to presentations from a range of speakers. While in the afternoon, delegates will have the opportunity to tour the facility.
The event is being sponsored by Frontier Medical Group, MITIE, Sharpsmart and Bywaters. Additional sponsors include GV Health, SRCL, Econix and Independent Safety Services Ltd.
Registration forms and booking details, including early bird discounts are available at the link below. When you book, can you let us know: (1) if you would like to do the site tour in the afternoon, (2) if you require a car parking space and (3) if you have any disability requirements?
http://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/understanding-treatment-technologies-and-recovery-of-value-a-seminar-tickets-11313828967
2. SRCL opens new alternative treatment plant
SRCL has opened its eighth clinical waste Alternative Treatment (AT) site at Knowsley, near Liverpool. The plant is designed to recover 100 percent of the treated clinical waste as refuse derived fuel (RDF), which will be used in the cement industry.
Specifically commissioned to service customers locally in the North West of England, and following an investment of £2m by SRCL, the new AT plant has the capacity to process up to 48 tonnes of clinical waste per day and adds to SRCL’s seven other AT sites across the UK and Ireland in Cumbernauld, Newcastle, Four Ashes, Bridgend, Larkfield, Belfast and Dublin.
Read more here: SRCL opens new AT plant
3.Zero waste Scotland report on the potential health impacts of the frequency of non-recyclable waste collections
Research led by Zero Waste Scotland has found that there is no health risk involved in collecting waste less frequently. The reportstudied the potential exposure of both householders and waste collectors to health risks where residual waste is collected at ‘extended frequencies’ of less than fortnightly. Laboratory research found that health risks were reduced if residual waste is bagged and biodegradable waste is collected separately. Recommendations in the report therefore include encouraging householders and businesses to separate biodegradable and residual waste as well as to place in bags rather than loose in the bin.
Read the full report here: Zero Waste Scotland report on health impacts of waste
4. NHS facing pre-election crisis says Nuffield Trust
The NHS is “increasingly poorly placed to manage the impact of austerity” and faces a pre-election funding crisis, a respected healthcare think-tank has warned. In a detailed analysis of health service finances, the Nuffield Trust suggests the health service has relied heavily on one-off or temporary savings but is reaching the limit of its capacity to withstand further cuts.
Andy McKeon, senior policy fellow at the Nuffield Trust, said demand for NHS services showed no sign of abating. With hospital finances increasingly weak, growing pressures on staffing, and the goal of moving care out of hospitals and into the community proving elusive, “the NHS is heading for a funding crisis this year or next”. The immediate choice, he said, was “rapidly becoming one of financial deficits or scrimping on the quality of care”.
Read the full story here: Nuffield Trust report on NHS funding crisis
5. Defra announces four-year low in waste costs
The Defra Annual Report on Accounts 2013-2014 shows that the costs of councils’ waste collection have reached their lowest levels in real terms since 2008. Local authorities have spent 1.3% and 3.4% less per household for waste management activities compared to 2011-2012 and 2008-09 respectively, having spent £140.40 per household for waste management activities in 2013-14 compared to £145.38 in 2008-09. Defra said “this significant reduction suggests some efficiency savings have been achieved, with reductions in the amount of waste sent to landfill being a key driver”.
Read the full report here: Defra accounts for 2013/4
6. Nigerian Healthcare Waste Management Plan
The government in Nigeria has recently issued a new healthcare waste management plan. Details of the document can be found at the link below.
Nigerian national healthcare waste plan
