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Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has been nominated and shortlisted for ‘Healthcare Recycler of the Year’ at the National Recycling Awards. Their Waste Manager James Dixon has been praised for his work within the Trust.

Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals use our Hybrid Waste Bins to collect recyclable waste. They use green units for recycling, making them stand out from the other healthcare waste segregation coloured bins. Hybrid units are ideal for use in hospitals and healthcare environments as they have non-marking plastic foot units and a steel lid that can be used with magnetic labels.

Recycling has increased dramatically across the Newcastle Hospitals and the Trust is able to boast that it has sent no waste, general waste or treated clinical waste, to landfill since July 2012.

Achievements such as this have seen the Trust’s Waste Manager James Dixon shortlisted in the ‘Healthcare Recycler of the Year’ category in this year’s awards.

The awards celebrate innovation and leadership in all areas of recycling and waste management, across all sectors. Newcastle Hospitals has been shortlisted along with seven other organisations in the Healthcare Recycler of the Year category – the first time there has been a dedicated category for healthcare.

James said: “It’s always good to be shortlisted for awards like this, but the most important thing is that we are always seeking to improve the segregation of our waste which ensures we are dealing with it as efficiently as possible – this reduces our impact on the environment and saves money at the same time. We have made some big improvements in recent years and our rate of segregated recycling is now at a good level. However, we can always improve and we are now working on more ways to not just increase recycling, but increase re-use and to ultimately reduce the waste we produce. The feel good factor is that the financial savings we have made in better-managing our waste has freed up more resources to help improve patient care in our hospitals.”

“We’re up against some stiff competition in awards but I’m looking forward to the awards ceremony and keeping my fingers crossed!”

James has been leading waste management projects across the Newcastle Hospitals for four years, and has helped the Trust dramatically increase recycling rates and enhance its green credentials in a number of areas. Since 2010, the recycling rate has increased from 9% to 35%, with the amount of waste being recycled up from just over 300 tonnes, to almost 1000 tonnes a year.

The Trust was also one of the first in the country to divert all treated clinical waste from landfill since 1st July 2012, making them completely zero waste to landfill from this time. The total carbon emissions from waste disposal activities is also down a massive 75% since 2010.

Collectively James’ work has helped the Trust to save over £800,000 in waste costs in just two years!

The award ceremony will be held at the London Hilton on Thursday 3rd July.

Link to the National Recycling Awards: http://www.nationalrecyclingawards.com/home

James Dixon worked in conjunction with Wybone to develop the Torpedo Mini, saying “I gave Wybone the specific challenge of getting a split recycling bin into our small clinical offices, where space is at a premium.”

To suit James and the Trusts needs we designed a small unit that can be split in half to collect both litter and recycling, whilst still looking stylish and modern! The Torpedo Mini can be split either 50/50 or 70/30 in favour of recycling, depending upon where the units are to be placed.

James commented on the final design that “Wybone put the vision into reality!”.