General waste and recycling in healthcare facilities
General waste is the largest type of waste produced in our healthcare facilities. Large amounts of recyclable material ends up in the general waste bins. This makes it an important area to consider when trying to reduce the amount of waste.
Increasing the amount of recycling facilities helps to:
- reduce costs
- recycle valuable resources
- improve environmental impact
Remember: if you haven’t measured it, you can't manage it.
Related topic
Measuring, monitoring and benchmarking waste in healthcare facilities
Targets for Ireland
Climate change is already having an impact on Ireland's environment.
The Climate Action Plan sets out a course of actions over the coming years to address this issue.
Targets set by the plan:
- reduce the amount of waste sent to landfill to 10% by 2035
- recycle 70% of packaging waste and 55% of plastic packaging waste by 2035
Resources
Best practice
Best Practice on Maximising Recycling and Reducing Landfill (PDF, 2.98MB, 5 pages)
Best Practice on Bin Placement (PDF, 1.38MB, 2 pages)
Resource efficiency for community nursing units and nursing homes (PDF, 2.1MB, 20 pages)
Signage
Waste Bin Signage (PDF, 9.11MB, 12 pages)