35 tonnes of excess healthcare stock diverted to good causes

2 Minute Read

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The Challenge

A large amount of a healthcare customer’s excess stock, ranging from food to nappies, was being disposed of each year.

Historically, there was no solution in place to relocate this stock to the benefit of local communities or charitable organisations.

The disposal of this excess stock, typically sent incorrectly by large suppliers, was costing the healthcare customer tens of thousands of pounds a year in disposal costs.

Unipart’s Operational Excellence experts at a site in the network were asked to create a solution that would retain the integrity of the products, achieve positive social, environmental and financial benefits, and mitigate any liability to the customer.

The Solution

Unipart’s experts looked in depth at the full waste management process and developed a and implemented a solution for donations that:

  • Defined obsolete stock 
  • Included clear process flows, standard operating procedures at every stage, and appropriate risk assessments  
  • Added stock financial reconciliation filtering into the waste management process
  • Enabled the site, and each partner site, to register a selected local charity to benefit from the donations.

35 tonnes

excess stock removed from destruction waste path

The Impact

More than 35 tonnes of excess stock was potentially removed from a destruction waste path into reuse in the first two months of 2024.

  • 2.5 tonnes of excess stock was diverted to the site registered charity partner Cancer Research UK in the first two months of 2024
  • Food waste uplifts were reduced by 50% (the transportation and destruction cost in 2023 was estimated at over £50K) 
  • Local food banks and schools benefited donations of food
  • Care homes and children’s charities benefited from donations of incontinence pants and nappies
  • Increased warehouse space was made available
  • The company and customer liability is zero, due to the detailed disclaimer process put in place.
Panoramic Teamwork,empathy,partnership and Social connection in business join hand together concept.Hand of diverse people connecting.Power of volunteer charity work, Stack of people hand.

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