Engaging with staff

Provide guidance and information on the Trusts / hospitals intranet pages for all staff to access.
Ensure each department, ward, clinic understands how the new requirements will impact them and their waste collections.
Provide compulsory, short online training sessions for all new starters outlining why the changes are taking place and what they need to do to comply.
Include regular training on waste and recycling as part of your mandatory staff training.
Ask for feedback if recycling systems are not working well, ensure staff feel listened to and that issues are identified promptly before they cause bigger problems.
Provide clear instructions on what they should do with different waste streams or recyclables to help you meet the new recycling obligations.
Share information about recycling via online staff forums or regular updates at team / department meetings and on staff noticeboards so that all employees hear about the differences their actions are making.
Monitor performance of different departments and share positive results to encourage healthy competition.
Consider having recycling champions that could be used to share updates, good news and provide feedback to the Environmental/ Waste departments on how the new scheme is being used and areas for improvement.
Monitor contamination and adapt communication and training to highlight any problem wastes.

Teams responsible for managing the waste and recycling containers, emptying and taking full bags to collection points play a key role in ensuring compliance with the requirements. They can speak to other staff members and encourage good behaviour.
Porters, estate and cleaning staff will have a vital role to ensure waste is correctly sorted and to ask them to report issues such as overflowing bins or contamination to the relevant person or team. They can also advise all other departments on what bins are required, if you have the correct waste capacity or need more.
Your facilities management providers (if used) to ensure recycling services are provided.
Grounds or estates staff need to know about changes to collections, and the locations of bins they will use when completing their duties i.e., litter picking or emptying external litter bins.

Catering staff in on-site kitchens to reduce avoidable food waste via portion control and production of excess and unavoidable food waste.
Staff delivering meals to patients and collecting meal trays to ensure any left over food or packaging (yoghurt pots etc..) is managed correctly.

See the section on food waste and hygiene for more information.

You can use our resources when engaging with your staff.