Publish date: 16 February 2023

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(Bhajan Jassell, centre wearing mustard sweater)

Bhajan Jassell, Senior Podiatrist and her colleagues in the Ealing Community Partners Podiatry Team have been taking greener steps to include sustainability in their daily operation at Mattock Lane, Ealing. We asked Bhajan to share her insights as a Green champion for the trust. 

Why did you become a green champion?

It started when I purchased my first home and the council gave two boxes to recycle paper and glass. However, I believe I really started to engage actively when I moved to Windsor. The council offered a points incentive for recycling including food waste, and here you had the addition of having your garden waste recycled but you had to pay for the green bin. In Windsor we have larger wheelie dustbin bins to recycle, which offer more capacity for recycling.

What steps has your team taken to make your workplace greener? 

  •  The biggest steps taken by new management was to upload referrals as a pdf attachment, which resulted in no referrals needed to be printed and information could be copied and pasted onto the S1 in a consultation once verified with the patient. This has proven to be a game changer for staff.
  • Admin sending out text message reminders instead of letters.
  • Podiatry staff recycle majority of the packaging from our instruments and stock that comes in, especially our instrument packaging which may account for 80-85% of the waste produced in Podiatry.
  • We have blue recycle bins in the larger clinics and use the recycle bins closer to the clinic rooms.
  • We have green updates on what is happening at our staff meetings.
  • Colleagues are turning off lights in areas that are not in use.
  • Staff are using their water bottles and if cups are used they are being recycled.
  • I have managed to get a blue recycling bin in the health education room where patients are seen in a group setting to encourage recycling.
  • Patients, in group education sessions are encouraged to bring their own water bottles.

How did you get the rest of the team on board? 

There is much coverage in the news about global warming, it was just a given by the team to #playourpart. Many of us have children, they are the future and we don’t want them to be facing the devastating effects of global warming. 

Any advice or tips for other teams?

Yes, every little thing matters to make a difference, so it does not need to be big, you just need to make a start and share the same goal #playyourpart to become greener.

Do you have any plans for the future?

Yes, as green champions we would like a presence on the exchange and would like people to share their stories with the rest of the trust, so we can all adapt to different shared practices. Let’s make it count and I am happy to work with other colleagues, so we can share our green practices.

What do you think teams across the Trust could do better as a Trust?

Green Champions should visit other sites and engage with teams to see what sustainable practices they are using and what can be done to increase recycling. 

Our green champions are taking incremental steps to support our sustainability goals to become a greener NHS Trust, Find out more about our Green Plan objectives here