Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what proportion of used medical equipment was recycled in each of the last three years.

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 cutting its carbon emissions and increasing the reuse and recycling of medical equipment. This commitment is then applied locally, considering local priorities, through local Green Plans. NHS England also collaborates with NHS Supply Chain to increase availability of reusable products and supports local NHS organisations through the publication of guidance and resources to help with implementing changes.

As an example, the NHS has set out ambitions to expand existing walking aid refurbishment schemes. Arrangements for the return and reuse of walking aids are managed locally, to be adapted to the local context, and several NHS trusts already have local return and reuse schemes with over 200 return sites now featured on the Recycle Now website.

NHS England is supporting local NHS organisations to increase walking aid return rates, with initiatives including running a national walking aid return campaign as part of recycling week between 16 and 22 October 2023; providing guidance to trusts on setting up or enhancing reuse schemes and planning communication activities; providing visual material to help communicate locally about the schemes in a consistent way; and directly supporting trusts with their pilot schemes.

Regarding further equipment types, improving resource efficiency forms a key part of the Government’s Medical Technology Strategy, published in February 2023, where we are working with industry, the health and care sector, and academic partners to improve the extent to which we reuse, remanufacture, and recycle many different medical equipment types.

Currently, the Department do not hold centralised data on the proportion of all used medical equipment that is recycled.