Waste Stories 11/7/2016

 

10th anniversary1.Results of our sector research survey

In May/June we had asked for feedback on challenges faced by the UK healthcare waste sector currently and also within the next 5 years, as well as on research needs. The main results suggest the following:

Key current challenges:

  • Effective waste segregation
  • Improvement in sustainability and carbon footprinting
  • Training and dedicated waste managers

Challenges in the next five years:

  • Reducing carbon footprint
  • Implementation costs of waste management systems
  • Effective waste segregation

Key areas for research:

  • Implementing effective segregation approaches
  • benchmarking/comparison across the EU and between different types of healthcare providers
  • Evaluation of best available technologies

2. Vacancy for Clinical Programme Manager

The Centre for Sustainable Healthcare (CSH) is looking for a highly able and motivated individual with experience of providing front-line clinical care in the NHS to join the clinical programme team at CSH. This is a full-time post, salary £35,000 per year, to start September 2016.

View more details here

3.Call for European energy innovation proposals

KIC InnoEnergy is looking to invest in businesses and help develop innovative products, services, and solutions that have high commercial potential.

Read more here

4. International Managing Director vacancy at HCWH

Health Care Without Harm (HCWH) is hiring an International Managing Director to help lead HCWH’s global work and build its network around the world.  It is searching globally for the best person.

HCWH is looking for a dynamic manager with deep international experience, multiple cultural competencies and a strong organizing background to serve as the International Managing Director.  The position requires excellent people and organizational skills. Working with and reporting to the International Director for Program and Strategy, this position will help lead the ongoing international development of HCWH.

Location: Flexible and virtual capable; provided willingness to partially overlap with Pacific Standard Time business hours. Office co-location possible in Boston, Buenos Aires, Brussels, Manila, Reston, or San Francisco.

Position Status: Full time employment
Candidate must be willing and able to travel extensively
View more details here
5. Defra delays 25 year plan
Defra has informed the industry that its 25 Year Environment Plan will NOT now be published before the end of 2016 and, in addition, the framework for the Plan that was expected this summer will also not be being published.

In a letter to stakeholders, Defra’s 25 Year Environment Plan, explained that the original timings of the framework and the subsequent Plan “did not take into account [Britain’s] decision to leave the EU. As a result we will not be publishing the framework this summer or the plan by the end of the year”.

The letter added that “[Defra wants] to reassure you that Government is committed to developing a long term plan for the environment. The reason for the delay is because the outcome of the EU referendum vote provides us with the opportunity to expand the scope of the plan to consider a long-term vision for the type of environment we want in Britain outside of the EU.

“We want to design an effective approach to driving environmental improvement, tailored to the needs of our country that has a powerful and permanent impact. Development of this will need to be informed by significant engagement with input from all interested parties across many sectors to inform the long term plan.”

Defra offers no new timescale for a post-Brexit Environment Plan, which was originally revealed in its “`Single departmental plan: 2015 to 2020” report, which set out its objectives for 2016, which included developing new approaches for tackling waste crime, including using £20m from reform of the Landfill Communities Fund, and for tackling litter.

 

6. Food waste recycling action plan for England launched

England’s first action plan designed to increase the quantity and quality of household and commercial food waste collected and recycled has been launched by WRAP.

The Food Waste Recycling Action Plan, developed by an industry steering group – including local authorities, waste treatment operators, private sector waste collectors and industry bodies – aims to increase the amount of food waste collected and recycled by promoting greater collaboration across the food waste recycling supply chain.

Read the plan here

Waste Stories 22/7/2014

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1. Seminar on September 25 (GV Health: infection control and waste management supplies GV Health)

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. GIB forecasts waste infrastructure capacity gap by 2020

The UK Green Investment Bank (GIB) has published a market setting out the investment opportunity in the UK waste market, stressing more waste infrastructure will be needed in the UK by 2020 or risk a capacity gap. Produced in partnership with Tolvik Consulting, GIB forecasts a gap of up to 7.7m tonnes between the amount of waste produced post-recycling and the infrastructure available to process it – an investment opportunity of c. £5bn to 2020….

Read the full story here: UK waste infrastructure forecasts

3. HCWH release list of global suppliers

Safe and sustainable healthcare waste management is vital part of protecting human health and the environment, and there are numerous technologies for different situations, from small healthcare facilities to large centralised treatment plants. To aid in the procurement of appropriate technologies, Health Care Without Harm first published an inventory of non-incineration healthcare waste treatment technologies in 2007. The new version has been fully updated and provides listings of suppliers from one hundred and six countries, from Albania to Zimbabwe….

See the list here: HCWH list of waste management technology suppliers

4. Philip Dilley appointed new EA chair

The Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee has approved the appointment of Philip Dilley as the new Chair of the Environment Agency. Dilley, former Chair of the Arup Group, will take up the £100,000-a-year post in September, when the term in office ends of Lord Smith of Finsbury, the former Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport.

Read story here: Philip Diley, new EA chair