Waste Stories 30/1/2017

 

1. The Group’s 2017 conference

The Group’s 2017 conference will be held on Thursday October 5, at the Northampton Town’s football ground in Sixfields, Northampton. The event will focus on the sustainable management of food waste from the healthcare and hospitality sectors. It will feature speakers from WRAP, the Co-op, Daventry District Council and Severn Trent Water. Further details will follow in due course.

2. How much food and drink waste is there in Scotland?

Zero Waste Scotland has recently published a report on food waste in Scotland. It states that there is an estimated 1.35 million tonnes of food and drink waste was disposed of in Scotland in 2013. This covers solid and liquid waste arising from households and solid waste arising from “commercial and industrial” sectors, which includes the public sector.
 

View the report here

3. The SDU’s Sustainable healthcare products challenge

The SDU is seeking applications to undertake work to identify and quantify the environmental, financial and potential social benefits of healthcare products. This could include products from cardboard kidney trays, alcohol hand gel to medical devices such as walking aids or surgical equipment. 

The Unit intend to award three contracts of £3,000 each.  

For more information, click here

4. EU low carbon hospital challenge

The European Commission has launched a competition to find a hospital that has an innovative and perfectly integrated combined heat and power installation within its premises that uses 100 percent renewable energy sources. A cash reward of €1m will be offered to the hospital that most effectively meets the criteria, which include using at least three different renewable energy technologies. The deadline to apply is April 2019.

5. Funding competition: technology solutions for society in India

Innovate UK is investing up to £1.6 million for projects that use cutting-edge solutions to enhance healthcare, clean technology and infrastructure in India.

The aim of this competition is to encourage innovative partnerships between the UK and India. Innovate UK and the Indian government are funding this competition, administered by the Newton Fund.

The University of Northampton would be particularly keen to partner, as we have done work in India and have good links, particularly in Chennai.

For more details, click here

Waste Stories 28/8/2014

 

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1. Seminar on September 25 (SRCL:specialising in protecting people and reducing risk SRCL)

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?

Online registration form for the seminar

2. The NHS and the Circular economy

Circular economy principles help NHS meet cost and environmental targets. Three sustainability and waste experts on what the healthcare system can gain from circular economy principles.

Read more here: NHS and the circular economy

3. Electricity Demand Reduction Pilot

The Department of Energy and Climate Change is making £20 million available to support projects that deliver lasting reductions in electricity demand through the Electricity Demand Reduction (EDR) Pilot.
The aim of the Pilot is to test whether EDR could participate in Great Britain’s capacity market. Under the Pilot, businesses and organisations which install measures that deliver verifiable reductions in electricity demand will be able to bid for a financial incentive.A total of £20 million will be made available to support the EDR Pilot over the two years it will run. The first EDR Pilot auction is for a total of £10 million and is being held in January 2015…..
4. HMRC consultation on Landfill Tax
The Government announced in Budget 2014 that it will introduce a ‘loss on ignition’ test by April 2015. The lower rate of landfill tax will apply where fines meet an LOI threshold of 10% or less. This consultation sets out a proposal for how the testing regime will operate, including processes for the testing of samples and record-keeping requirements. The consultation will be of particular interest to operators of landfill sites and mechanical treatment plants and other waste industry interests including representative bodies in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
5. Collection frequency and health risks
Zero Waste Scotland has published the findings of a study looking at the potential risk to human health linked to reduced frequency collections of non-recyclable waste. In 2012/13 the Scottish Waste Management Officers Network approached Zero Waste Scotland to request support to appraise options for extended frequency non-recyclable waste collections from householders.
6. Energy efficiency and Newham University Hospital

E.ON have begun working with Newham University Hospital in East London to improve energy efficiency and reduce carbon emissions. The project is amongst the very first of the London Development Agency’s (LDA) RE:FIT programme which aims to reduce the capital’s carbon emissions by updating public buildings with the most effective energy saving measures.

Waste Stories 15/7/2014

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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