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.

Targets for Ireland

The Waste Action Plan for a Circular Economy is Ireland’s roadmap for waste planning and management.

This Plan moves focus away from waste disposal and looks instead to how we can preserve resources by creating a circular economy. A circular economy means resources are re-used or recycled as much as possible, and the generation of waste is minimised

The Public Sector (including Health) target obligations for waste are:

Reduce waste sent to landfill to 10% by 2035
Recycle 70% of packaging waste by 2030

This Infographic shows the key actions and targets in the Waste Action Plan for a Circular Economy.

Resources

National Health Sustainability Office

General waste and recycling in healthcare facilities

Related topic

Targets for Ireland

Resources

Best practice

Signage

Case Studies