Earth Day: Investing in our Planet
The annual Earth Day celebrations bring with them a sense of reflection on how much has truly moved forward since the previous year.
The theme of this year’s Earth Day event was ‘Invest in our planet’. The number of new sustainable products and services coming to market is increasing year on year, all that’s left to do is for these to be invested in the right spaces in order to have a real, lasting impact. The NHS’s green agenda is stronger than ever before, and they need to be ahead of the pack when it comes to green investments to reap the benefits and put their best foot forward.
To celebrate Earth Day 2023, we invited speakers from a range of companies with new, innovative products and services that could benefit the NHS’s green agenda.
Jack O'Grady, Senior Programme Manager, My Green Lab
Our first speaker of the day was Jack O’Grady, Senior Programme Manager at My Green Lab. Jack’s talk was titled ‘Building a Global Culture of Sustainability in Science’. He kicked off his talk by discussing their mission at My Green Lab to bring awareness to the environmental impacts and concerns within a laboratory and build a culture of sustainability within science.
“The mission that we have at My Green Lab is to build a culture of sustainability in science to transform the industry into a global leader on environmental sustainability”
He went on to speak about how building a real culture of sustainability requires a higher level of education and communication, which then led into Jack speaking to attendees about My Green Lab’s Green Ambassador Programme. Their ambassador programme has had uptake across the world. Jack then spoke about their sustainability certification, which was selected as a key player in the United Nation’s race to zero.
“Climate change is relentless and unfortunately, as a result, all of us in attendance have to also be relentless in building their cultural sustainability.”
Dr Kyle C Grant, Founder & CEO, Oxwash
Our second speaker of the day was Dr Kyle C Grant, Founder and CEO of Oxwash. Kyle’s talk was titled ‘Sustainable Laundry Practices for Healthcare’. Kyle began his presentation by talking about the impact that laundry has on the environment, making a point that it isn’t an industry that most people consider to have much of an impact on the planet. He informed attendees on laundry facts such as the fact that 85% of dry-cleaning fluids are PERC linked to cancer and miscarriages.
“Then there is also the toxic chemistry. Detergent leaks can include things like perchloroethylene.”
Kyle then went on to speak about how Oxwash are trying to tackle the issues at hand within the laundry sector including its effect on the planet as well as the inefficiencies in healthcare laundries. Kyle tied up his presentation by running through Oxwash’s range of innovative processes which are cleaning up the laundry sector for healthcare.
“Oxwash is trying to solve two problems simultaneously. The first is the massive impact that the industry has on the planet and its people, but also the fact that the inefficiency of that process is costing the NHS an astronomical amount.”
Clive Spooner, Global Training Manager, Vernacare
Our last speaker of the day was Clive Spooner, Global Training Manager at Vernacare. Clive’s talk was titled ‘Vernacare- Our Sustainability Journey’. He began his talk by giving the attendees some background into Vernacare, speaking about how in 1964, they were already ahead of the sustainability game, developing new, innovative products for the healthcare sector.
“Way back in 1964, we pioneered a sustainable system, whereby the alternatives being used at the time involved people using and reusing plastics and metals.”
Clive then ran through the journey Vernacare have taken since the 60’s to put themselves at the forefront of sustainable innovation. He ran through a tremendous number of statistics on exactly how much of a benefit Vernacare can bring to healthcare.
“If the whole of the UK moved over to our solutions, it would be the equivalent of saving 250 million plastic bottles from entering the supply chain, or the same as planting over 390,000 trees.”
We heard some fantastic insight from our speakers for our Earth Day webinar this year and we were blown away by some of the new products and processes that these companies had to offer.
If you are interested in speaking at one of our future events, get in contact with a member of the team!