Positively Green

Derriford Waste Management Solutions and UHP’s Waste Manager Ben have been working hard on increasing our recycling rates. Since mid-September 2025, Coastal Recycling  have processed the following from UHP: 

• 100.5 tonnes of cardboard

• 2.8 tonnes of LDPE packaging

• 21.1 tonnes of sorted office waste

This total 131.1 tonnes of recycled waste saved an estimated 34.9t CO₂! This is roughly equivalent to driving 249 450kms in a petrol car.

UHP’s recycling takes the following journey:

• Collection and Transfer:  Recycling is gathered from bins across the hospital and moved to dedicated waste hubs. Waste Porters take the materials to the DWMS facility, where items are either compacted and baled or kept loose, depending on the type of recycling
• Transport to Coastal:  Coastal Recycling collects the material and transports it to their Materials Recycling Facility (MRF)
• Weighing:  The load is weighed on a weighbridge, then unloaded
• Pre‑Sorting and Preparation:  Recycling is separated and pre-sorted ahead of the main sorting process
• Mechanical Sorting:
• Cardboard and paper are separated using slats and moving beds
• Cans and aluminium are extracted using eddy current separators
• Plastics are separated using optical sorting
• Manual Support:  Employees work along the processing line to remove contamination and carry out quality checks

One of the most dangerous contaminants found on sorting lines are batteries and vapes, both of which contain lithium batteries. These items can easily ignite when crushed or punctured by sorting equipment, posing a significant fire risk to recycling facilities and the people working in them. This is why it is so important to directly dispose of your vapes and batteries!  

Some of the most dangerous contaminants found from healthcare recycling are infectious materials which have been incorrectly placed into the recycling stream, often as “wish-cycling”. Wish-cycling is where items are placed into recycling in the hope that they should be recycled. Although well intended, this causes significant issues, damage to machinery and increased health risks or even injuries to the workers at the Materials Recycling Facility.

All bins at Derriford Hospital have lid stickers showing what should go where — following these instructions helps keep our sites safe, compliant, and running smoothly. A quick check before disposing of any item helps keep our waste processes effective across all sites.

Email us for more info! plh-tr.sustainability@nhs.net