The NHS has pledged to join the war on plastic by cutting its use by 100 million items each year.
Retailers operating in hospitals, including Marks & Spencer and WH Smith, are backing the call by NHS chief executive Simon Stevens by cutting the use of avoidable plastics starting with straws and stirrers from April 2020. Plastic cutlery, plates and cups will then be phased out over the following 12 months.
Disability campaigners have previously highlighted that straws are essential for some people and a ban could have a negative impact on thousands of lives. Speaking to HuffPost UK, the NHS confirmed that its trusts will still have access to plastic straws and will make them available to those who need them. Other plastic items required for medical reasons are also exempt from the pledge, the NHS added.
The NHS bought at least 163 million plastic cups, 16 million pieces of plastic cutlery, 15 million straws and two million plastic stirrers last year. If the NHS cut its use of catering plastic by half, it could mean over 100 million fewer items each year end up polluting the oceans or in landfill.
Suppliers including WHSmith, Marks & Spencer, Boots, Greggs and OCS Group UKIME, along with NHS Supply Chain – the organisation which manages food and health products in England – have all confirmed they will accept the health service chief’s call to cut waste.
The nationwide efforts will ramp up individual schemes across some NHS trusts, including increased use of glass cups instead of plastic and installing water fountains, which have so far cut plastic use by hundreds of tonnes and freed up thousands of pounds to reinvest in local services.
Helen Bird, from sustainability charity WRAP (the Waste and Resources Action Programme), praised the latest commitment.
“It’s positive to see the NHS taking action to turn the tide on plastic waste, removing plastic items where they do not make sense for the environment, and looking for alternatives to materials which are not recyclable, like expanded polystyrene cups,” she said in a statement. “It sends a strong message to the public and suppliers to the NHS; our throwaway culture will become a thing of the past.”