The clinical waste challenge
Clinical waste has become a hospital’s highest financial and environmental cost. The storage, treatment and disposal of the waste is now a global concern for the healthcare sector. The generation and disposal of clinical waste requires resources, materials, space and staff time – all of which contributes to the unseen ‘true cost’ of waste in the NHS. Currently the NHS outsources the disposal of its clinical waste to external providers where it is mainly collected weekly by diesel-fuelled lorries and transported miles off site for disposal. Most clinical waste still goes to landfill or incineration. Each year across the NHS...
176,000 tonnes
of clinical waste is produced across acute and maternity NHS beds
123,000 tonnes
of CO2 created
£77 million
spent on waste transportation and processing costs
There are an estimated 176,000 tonnes of clinical waste produced every year in the NHS from acute and maternity beds, costing the NHS over £77million.
The challenge with the current waste process
Storage
Waste can only be stored for a maximum of 7 days from creation to destruction. Issues with transportation or third-party processes can result in increased on-site storage requirements.
Handling
When outsourced to off-site treatment, the hazardous clinical waste must be moved from the storage facility by trucks, posing many risks.
Waste treatment
Clinical waste is transported and autoclaved or incinerated off-site and then taken to landfill. All of these processes generate significant costs and carbon emissions.
Pioneering the future of medical waste
The NHS has committed to reducing its carbon footprint by 80% by 2040 (Greener NHS Plan - Pathway NetZero). Curo provides a bespoke process and system that is designed and implemented to the individual Trust or Health Board's requirements. Our aim is to reduce the carbon impact of processing clinical waste by up to 95%.
Curo benefits
Making waste. Work.
Working in partnership towards a greener NHS, the waste revolution starts here.
Let's get to work