A national industry body has recognised MITIE and University College London (UCL) for their ground breaking approach to clinical waste management in the university’s 23 laboratories, saving 18% in disposal cost per tonne and reducing carbon emission per tonne by 27%. 

MITIE won the award for innovative practice in Waste Management and Resource Recovery at the 2011 Environmental Excellence Awards, hosted by the Chartered Institution of Waste Management (CIWM) last week. The award is the most coveted at the ceremony, as it recognises trend setters in the industry, working in new innovative ways to manage waste. 

In an industry first, the FTSE 250 strategic outsourcing and energy services company diverted auto-claved clinical waste from High Temperature Incineration (HTI) to Energy-from-Waste treatment, setting the latest in best practice on safe management of healthcare waste. 

It is estimated that the NHS disposes of approximately 250,000 tonnes of clinical waste a year –1,000 times the amount of clinical waste generated by UCL – costing the tax payer an estimated £90m a year. 

Mike Taylor, Managing Director of MITIE's waste and environmental business, said: "This award demonstrates how MITIE working in partnership with our clients can deliver significant results in terms of cost savings and reduced environmental impact through best practice.

I believe that the replication of this innovative approach could generate significant emission reduction and cost savings for the NHS." 

Paul Monk, waste contract manager at UCL said: "This is a fitting reward for the progress that has been achieved in the last three years and demonstrates that by engaging with the University's community, real environmental benefits and cost savings can be achieved. 

It will encourage other universities to look at their laboratory waste and to do the same."

-ENDS-

Notes for editors

What is MITIE?
We’re the strategic outsourcing and asset management company.

What does that mean in practice? We manage facilities, energy and properties for our clients across the UK and beyond.

We work with our clients in three ways; some take full advantage of our whole range of expertise, others may only need one aspect of what we do:

Strategy and consultancy
+ Facilities and project management
+ Service delivery

Our strategic input can add value at the highest level by helping clients to manage their assets, while our practical management expertise can save customers money and reduce their carbon emissions. We work with a vast number of clients in every industry across both the public and private sectors and deliver the broadest range of services that can be found in one place: from integrated facilities management to engineering maintenance to lifecycle energy management and much more.

There’s a lot more to MITIE than you probably think. We’re a big company with big ambitions – a leading FTSE 250 support services business, with more than 61,000 people, revenues of £1.9bn, and a reputation for being the best.

Visit us at www.mitie.com