FOI – 000147 NHS Scotland and Health Boards waste stream costs (HTML)

Date received – 17 June 2022 | Date responded – 14 July 2022

Request

I would like to enquire as the the following information, after Public Health Scotland referred me to you, as they did not hold the information themselves.

The total amount of Clinical Waste generated within the NHS Scotland.

The total cost of this.

In addition the following information broken down by Health Board:

• The Amount of waste generated and cost of it's disposal of the following waste streams
• Incineration (clinical waste)
• Alternative treatment (clinical waste)
• Offensive waste
• Clinical waste processed on site (excluding incineration)
• Domestic waste (landfill) volume
• Domestic waste (recycling)
• Domestic waste (food)
• Domestic waste (textiles)
• Domestic (incineration)
• Domestic waste processed on site (excluding incineration)
• Waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE)
• Confidential waste

Response

I refer to your freedom of information request that we received on 17 June 2022. I can advise you that we have now completed the search of our records and can provide you with the following information:

The total amount of Clinical Waste generated within the NHS Scotland.

18,468.042 tonnes

The total cost of this.

Under Section 33(1)(b) of the Freedom of Information Act an organisation does not require to provide exempt information if its disclosure under this Act would, or would be likely to, prejudice substantially the commercial interests of any person (including, without prejudice to that generality, a Scottish public authority). This information requested is commercially sensitive.

In addition the following information broken down by Health Board:

The Amount of waste generated and cost of it's disposal of the following waste streams

Incineration (clinical waste)

Please find attached Appendix 1 – Incineration (clinical). The date range is from 1 April 2021 to 31 March 2022.

Alternative treatment (clinical waste)

Under Section 17 of the Freedom of Information Scotland Act an organisation does not require to provide information if it does not hold that information. National Services Scotland (NSS) does not hold this information. I would advise you to contact NHS Shetland at shet.foi@nhs.scot who may hold the data.

Please find attached Appendix 2 – Alternative (clinical). The date range is from 1 April 2021 to 31 March 2022.

**Offensive waste **

Under Section 17 of the Freedom of Information Scotland Act an organisation does not require to provide information if it does not hold that information. NSS does not hold this information. We are unable to provide you with the data on offensive waste, as NHS Scotland does not have an offensive waste stream although the material that would be in that classification of waste is captured in the orange (alternative) and yellow (incineration) waste stream.

Clinical waste processed on site (excluding incineration)

Under Section 17 of the Freedom of Information Scotland Act an organisation does not require to provide information if it does not hold that information. NSS does not hold this information. I would advise you to contact each individual health board who may be able to provide you with the requested information. Contact details below:

• Ayrshire and Arran - foi@aapct.scot.nhs.uk
• Borders - foi.enquiries@borders.scot.nhs.uk
• Dumfries and Galloway - foi@dumgal.gov.uk
• Fife - fife.foirequestfife@nhs.scot
• Forth Valley - fv.freedomofinformation@nhs.scot
• Grampian - gram.foi@nhs.scot
• Greater Glasgow & Clyde - foi@ggc.scot.nhs.uk
• Highland - nhsh.foirequestshighland@nhs.scot
• Lanarkshire - foi@lanarkshire.scot.nhs.uk
• Lothian - foi@nhslothian.scot.nhs.uk
• Orkney - ORK.FOIrequests@nhs.scot
• Shetland - shet.foi@nhs.scot
• Tayside - tay.informationgovernance@nhs.scot
• Western Isles - wi.foi-requests@nhs.scot

Domestic waste (landfill) volume

Under Section 17 of the Freedom of Information Scotland Act an organisation does not require to provide information if it does not hold that information. National Services Scotland (NSS) does not hold this information. I would advise you to contact NHS Lanarkshire at foi@lanarkshire.scot.nhs.uk.

Please find attached Appendix 3 – Domestic (landfill). The date range is January 2021 until September 2021, which is the period for which NSS has data that has been aggregated by stream and by board.

Domestic waste (recycling)

Under Section 17 of the Freedom of Information Scotland Act an organisation does not require to provide information if it does not hold that information. National Services Scotland (NSS) does not hold this information. I would advise you to contact NHS Lanarkshire at foi@lanarkshire.scot.nhs.uk.

Please find attached Appendix 4 – Domestic (recycling). The date range is January 2021 until September 2021, which is the period for which NSS has data that has been aggregated by stream and by board.

Domestic waste (food)

Under Section 17 of the Freedom of Information Scotland Act an organisation does not require to provide information if it does not hold that information. National Services Scotland (NSS) does not hold this information. I would advise you to contact NHS Lanarkshire at foi@lanarkshire.scot.nhs.uk.

Please find attached Appendix 5 – Domestic (food). The date range is January 2021 until September 2021, which is the period for which NSS has data that has been aggregated by stream and by board.

Domestic waste (textiles)

Under Section 17 of the Freedom of Information Scotland Act an organisation does not require to provide information if it does not hold that information. National Services Scotland (NSS) does not hold this information. Domestic waste (textiles) is not currently isolated as an individual domestic waste stream.

**Domestic (incineration) **

Under Section 17 of the Freedom of Information Scotland Act an organisation does not require to provide information if it does not hold that information. NSS does not hold this information. Under the current contract, domestic waste does not get disposed of via incineration.

Domestic waste processed on site (excluding incineration)

Under Section 17 of the Freedom of Information Scotland Act an organisation does not require to provide information if it does not hold that information. NSS does not hold this information. I would advise you to contact each individual health board who may be able to provide you with the requested information. Contact details below:

• Ayrshire and Arran - foi@aapct.scot.nhs.uk
• Borders - foi.enquiries@borders.scot.nhs.uk
• Dumfries and Galloway - foi@dumgal.gov.uk
• Fife - fife.foirequestfife@nhs.scot
• Forth Valley - fv.freedomofinformation@nhs.scot
• Grampian - gram.foi@nhs.scot
• Greater Glasgow & Clyde - foi@ggc.scot.nhs.uk
• Highland - nhsh.foirequestshighland@nhs.scot
• Lanarkshire - foi@lanarkshire.scot.nhs.uk
• Lothian - foi@nhslothian.scot.nhs.uk
• Orkney - ORK.FOIrequests@nhs.scot
• Shetland - shet.foi@nhs.scot
• Tayside - tay.informationgovernance@nhs.scot
• Western Isles - wi.foi-requests@nhs.scot

Waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE)

Please find attached Appendix 6 – Waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE). The date range is January 2021 until September 2021, which is the period for which NSS has data that has been aggregated by stream and by board.

**Confidential waste **

Please find attached Appendix 7 – Confidential waste. The date range is January 2021 until September 2021, which is the period for which NSS has data that has been aggregated by stream and by board.

I trust you will find the information of assistance and if you require any further information please do not hesitate to contact us.

If you are unhappy with any aspect of how we have dealt with your request you can make representations to us asking us to review the handling of your request.

If you require any further information please contact Associate Director Information Security & Governance, within 40 working days of the date of this correspondence.

Contact

Address

If after a review you are still unhappy, you also have the right to apply to the Scottish Information Commissioner, who can be contacted at Kinburn Castle, St Andrews, Fife, KY16 9DS, or via their application form.

National Services Scotland (NSS) is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. You can view all FOI responses within our FOI Publications repository.