Uk
Australia
America
Canada
Hywel Dda University Health Board has delivered £230k in savings thanks to reuse using the Warp It redistribution service.
The Health Board, which provides healthcare services to a total population of around 384,000 throughout Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion, and Pembrokeshire, and employs over 10,000 staff, began exploring ways to save money and resources in 2018, with an emphasis on recognising when equipment could be re-used rather than replaced.
Above: The most common type of equipment exchanged includes non-electrical medical equipment.
As a result, the board has delivered financial savings to the tune of £230,000 by avoiding new purchases. This equates to 41 tonnes of waste diverted and a reduction of 161 tonnes of CO2e.
In addition, nearly £70,000 worth of unwanted equipment was successfully repurposed and donated to local charities.
Stuart Jones, a mental health nurse and also responsible for managing the Warp It system, said:
“The savings are fantastic and we treat others as we would like to be treated so why not treat our unneeded and unwanted items the same by giving them to someone else in need or less fortunate."
The most common type of equipment exchanged included stationery; desks; chairs, and non-electrical medical equipment and most items are claimed within 10 days of being posted on the Warp It system, which frees up valuable storage space and minimises wait times for recipients.
Above: stationery is a popular option for resue at Hywel Dda University Health Board.
Approximately 1,000 people (10 percent) at the University Health Board are now registered users of the Warp It tool, demonstrating that even modest uptake of the tool can result in high impact benefits including driving real culture change across the organisation and securing buy-in from staff.
All of this was achieved by adopting the Warp It system, which also positioned the board to align its procurement practices with its vision for public procurement laid out in Beyond Recycling and the NHS Wales Strategic Decarbonisation Plan. By successfully implementing Warp It and re-thinking the need to buy new, their work has led to financial and environmental benefits as part of a circular economy approach.
