First thing this morning was a telephone call with the Sustainability Officer, Fran Silcocks. Seems they deal with the same sustainability issues as we do. They just recently started a working group, a sustainability committee. Once a quarter they come together to talk about the action plan they have made. Fran discussed some of the topics in the action plan.
About 10.000 pounds were saved on IT systems, just by turning the computers off after 17:30 pm. LED lights are introduced in several places. They looked at the building management system and air condition, if it could work more effectively. Besides the technical things, they also tried to engage staff and patients in being more sustainable, for example by designing a sustainability logo via a poster competition. Or walk around the wards with the Young Person’s Advisory Group during Climate Week to discuss about the things they think are important. Waste management seems a bit of a problem, due to the lack of space to recycle waste. Same as water reduction and sustainable procurement. They haven’t found the perfect solutions for these yet.
So, same issues, same challenges…