The Guy and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust has donated nearly 1,700 hospital uniforms, worth £25,000, to the Sylvia Lanka Foundation for use in hospitals in Sri Lanka.

Reusing lab and medical equipment and medical research or biomedical devices has proven challenging in the past.

This is because these devices, equipment, and machines are often highly technical pieces of kit with variable specifications, meaning there are many more critical factors to consider when reusing in comparison to office furniture and stationery demands.

For example, some lab and medical equipment may include dangerous parts and require special training to operate. Others may or require a user manual, or legal, maintenance, and service documentation.

The parameters and standards affecting the reuse of lab equipment must be considered, including the management of biological and chemical safety and decontamination.

Following our lab consultation in March 2022 we partnered with The University of Queensland to increase the rate and improve the safe facilitation of the reuse of lab, and medical and biomedical equipment.

In summary, we’ve added extra categories to ensure all relevant details can be included when uploading items to the Warp It redistribution system.

We have also added a holding facility where lab kit can be checked over before going live on the market, to ensure accuracy and safety.

This update will ensure a new lease of life for lab equipment in a safe and coordinated way, while making the process easier for reuse admins, and those responsible for transporting these items.

Read on for guidance on how to access this feature.

Buying pre-loved items is becoming increasingly popular, spurred by the COVID-19 pandemic and a better awareness of its environmental benefits.

So, you’ve had a lightbulb bulb moment on how you think you can improve sustainability in your organisation. It might be a new idea, or a way to enhance an existing reuse project.

There has been an upsurge in discarding hospital textile and fabric-covered chairs and soft furnishings, with many health organisations opting to use wipeable furniture that more easily meets infection control policies and procedures.

The University of Glasgow is on track to hit a million pounds in financial savings as it enters its eighth year using the Warp It redistribution system.

The university has recorded total savings of £929,740 and has stopped at least 3,959 items from going to landfill since it joined Warp It in 2014. Now it has set a target to reach one million pounds by the end of 2022.

The Warp It redistribution system has seen a surge in membership renewals during the last three months, highlighting the ongoing value of reuse and sustainability for many organisations.

Over 30 organisations, including local authorities, NHS Trusts, colleges, and universities in the UK and abroad, have renewed their commitment to ensure office furniture, fixtures and fittings, equipment, uniforms, and many other items are rehomed rather than sent to landfill.

Laboratories often produce vast amounts of waste, due to frequent personnel turnover, lab moves, and changing research needs. 

A Warp It feature often overlooked, but proven to be very popular, is the capability of setting up sites, campuses and even departments on the system.

NHS Trusts, universities, blue light organisations and councils will usually have more than one site or campus and are often spread across a town, city or in some cases regions.

Warp It will ensure that the location of the items you've added to the system can be easily be identified, making life easier for members, those in charge of transporting the items and admins.

Read on for guidance on how this can be done.