Sidmouth and Ottery hospitals to become greener with a new recycling initiative

COMMUNITY hospitals in Sidmouth and Ottery St Mary will benefit from an innovative way of recycling.

The news comes after Devon Primary Care Trust (PCT) and Devon Partnership NHS Trust (DPT) become one of the first NHS trusts to sign a recycling contract that segregates waste..

The contract is with a local Social Enterprise waste management company, Mid Devon Community Recycling (MDCR).

It will increase the amount of waste that gets recycled and will help the NHS to reduce its carbon footprint.

The waste will no longer be collected together, which will improve the quality and result in more being recycled. Less waste will get rejected and sent to landfill sites.

The contract will also include the safe recycling of electrical equipment.

Anne Cameron, Devon PCT's lead for waste management, said: "Staff at the PCT are very keen for recycling to be introduced, especially as most of them are already used to doing this at home.

"Some hospitals have already successfully trialled this method and we are now rolling it out across the PCT.

"As part of the PCT's corporate sustainability plan we are reviewing the existing waste management policy to identify areas where we can increase recycling.

"We are the first PCT in the south west to award a recycling contract in place of domestic waste arrangements.

"Managers from MDCR will be making visits to PCT sites to discuss the new procedures with hospital and site managers.

"MDCR is able to trace all waste and will help reduce our carbon footprint by disposing of recycling within the UK only."

As well as the 21 community hospitals, the recycling scheme will also cover other DPT sites.

Ken Orchard, chief executive of the Silverton based recycling firm, said: "We're delighted to be given the chance to team up with the NHS on this really exciting project.

"The NHS is committed to reducing the impact of waste on the local environment and we're looking forward to working with their staff to achieve that aim."

As a Social Enterprise with environmental objectives, MDCR re-invests its profits back into the business to help it achieve its aim of reducing the amount of Devon's waste being sent to landfill.