NHS trust takes tour of B&M Manchester depot to clue up on recycling

As part of their NHS Sustainability Day activities, staff and volunteers from 5
Boroughs Partnership NHS Foundation Trust visited Carbon Neutral, B&M Waste Services’ Manchester depot to find out what happens to their waste from cradle to grave.

B&M customer 5 Boroughs Partnership has a trade waste management service in place for 11 Trust sites, including three hospitals which serve people of all ages living across the North West.

B&M’s Account Manager David Carter gave the team from 5 Boroughs Partnership a tour around B&M’s Manchester depot, showing them what happens when their waste leaves their site after being placed into a bin. 5 Boroughs Partnership currently segregates their waste on-site into separate containers for general and confidential waste, all of which B&M Waste and B&M Secure Shredding collect and process.

5 Boroughs Partnership witnessed what happens to their waste in action at B&M’s refuse derived fuel (RDF) processing facility. Materials such as cardboard, wood and metals are recycled, while all non-recyclable waste is compacted into bales, then wrapped and transported to a combined heat and power (CHP) site. The thermal energy is then recovered to produce electricity and steam is generated for a local district heating system. This ensures as much waste as possible is diverted from landfill, and is therefore less damaging to the environment.

Like all B&M customers, 5 Boroughs Partnership receives an environmental report as part of B&M’s service which shows the breakdown of waste streams and overall diversion from landfill rate. B&M’s work with 5 Boroughs Partnership has resulted in achieving over 99% diversion of waste from landfill.

Neil Curtis, Managing Director at B&M Waste Services commented:

“It’s fantastic that the team at 5 Boroughs Partnership shares an interest in what happens to their waste once it is collected. They’ve welcomed our innovations and have worked closely with Dave Carter to introduce segregation of recycling which pushes waste recycling up the waste hierarchy. We praise them for this forward-thinking approach which not only saves the environment but, in times where NHS budgets are tight, is more economical for them too.”

Nicola Daly, Environment and Sustainability Officer at 5 Borough Partnership NHS Foundation Trust said: “Dave gave us a great tour! It’s fascinating to see the journey that our waste goes through once it’s out of our hands. We are confident that B&M are doing everything possible to divert waste from landfill, which is lowering our carbon emissions.”