Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of working with local authorities to facilitate the (a) collection and (b) redistribution of (i) Zimmer frames, (ii) walking sticks and (iii) other used medical equipment.

As set out in the Delivering a Net Zero National Health Service report, published in October 2020, the NHS is committed to reducing its environmental impact, including by improving resilience and increasing the reuse, remanufacture, and recycling of medical equipment.

In October 2024, the Government published the Design for Life roadmap, a new strategy to transition away from all avoidable single-use medical technology products and towards a functioning circular system by 2045. The programme is expected to build on examples of where NHS organisations are already achieving cost, waste, and carbon savings through reusing, remanufacturing, and recycling medical devices and equipment, in line with their local Green Plans.

NHS England continues to work to expand locally managed walking aid refurbishment and reuse schemes, which include crutches, frames, and walking sticks, and savings from implementing these schemes are estimated at up to £46,000 a year per hospital, in addition to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, with potential carbon savings estimated at 7.4kt of CO2e per annum.

A range of resources and communication tools are available to support NHS trusts and patients with returns, and these include the Walking Aids Reuse How-to Guide and the Walking Aids page on the Recycle Now website, which shows the nearest drop off location by postcode, with 272 drop off locations in total, including 72 recycling centres that have been established through close working with local authority partners.