HSJ Value Awards 2018: Value and Improvement in Facilities and Estates Management

Winner

Barts Health Trust – Waste management team: Sustainable Reuse & Bulk Waste Prevention Project

Barts Health Trust’s waste management team – which is a partnership with Skanska’s waste contracted management services – wanted to reduce the number of unwanted bulk items which were being disposed of. Some of these were reusable – but not by the trust – or needed repair or renovation before reuse in its hospitals: examples include wheelchairs, hospital beds and office furniture.

It has worked with an online reuse platform and a service which refurbishes and repairs furnishings to near new standards. Since its inception up until the end of 2017 over 7,000 items have been donated, diverting 133 tonnes from bulk waste.

This has benefitted 5,500 people, including areas of East Africa affected by the 2014 ebola outbreak, a physical rehabilitation centre in Libya, and local schools and community projects in East London. The trust itself has benefitted from 1,000 pieces of furnishing which are back in use post-refurbishment.

The overall savings have been over £100,000 – mainly from not having to pay new for products but there are also saving from not having to pay for disposing of large items. The project has also avoided over 100 tonnes of CO2 emissions. Other trusts are now engaging with the service providers used by Barts – Globechain and Premier Sustains.

Read a detailed case study about this project at HSJ Solutions