The Trust is committed to encouraging more efficient use of energy and resources, reducing waste and promoting healthier and greener lifestyles.
Throughout the day, the Trust shared with the public – through its @WestonNHS Twitter account – how it has successfully achieved reductions in energy and resource wastage, as well as supported staff towards use of greener transport methods.
These achievements include:
- Recent site developments, the Urgent Care Centre and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) Suite, have used renewable wood sources for exterior walls and sedum roofs to provide natural insulation and improved drainage.
Over the first 10 months of 2011-12 (April 2011 – January 2012) the Trust has concentrated on more efficient use of its resources and has used:
- 23% less gas than over the same period last year
- 3.5% less electricity, despite increasing numbers of IT and electrical appliances
The Trust has also produced less waste:
- 34% less waste for incineration. This is largely due to the move to a new disposal system for sharps and the use of cardboard containers for other waste incinerated. This means that most of the reduction is of un-environmentally-friendly plastic
- 11% less clinical waste in total
- The Trust is investing £1million in sustainable energy projects including: Combined Heat and Power; LED lighting; heating controls; insulation
- The Trust has reduced its paper usage with a drop from 11,328 reams of A4 paper used in 2010/11 to 5,940 reams in 2011/12. According to Conservatree.org, it takes one tree to make 16.67 reams of paper, and the Trust’s reduction in 2011/12 will be the equivalent of saving 323 trees
The Trust has also worked to promote personal wellbeing by:
- Supporting staff to change to greener travel through a Cycle to Work scheme to assist in the purchasing of bicycles, which has seen more than 80 staff take up the offer since 2009. This has been supplemented by investment in secure cycle sheds and shower facilities, with assistance from North Somerset Council’s Sustainable Travel and Road Safety team
Alison Kingscott, Director of Human Resources at Weston Area Health NHS Trust said:
“We are very proud to have made these achievements this year and to be taking part in this first NHS Sustainability Day. The Trust is both recycling more and producing less waste overall, which is all part of our strategy to be a local corporate environmental champion.”
For further information, please contact Caroline Welch on 01934 647091