Dietetic sustainability project

In 2022, 92,000 units of enteral feed and oral supplements were received into County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust, however we did not know how they were being disposed of.

Following an audit, we have found that half of oral supplement containers are disposed of in general waste, with the rest in either clinical or recycling waste.

Enteral feed containers were found to be disposed of in general, clinical, recycling and bio-bin waste bins. Of the wards audited, we found that they all had access to recycling bins but the bins could be anywhere on the ward.

To help the Trust continue with our recycling targets, we are looking at how we can recycle the enteral feed and oral supplement containers and will be share updates in the coming months.