Maximise your budget and ensure you get the services you need by following our top tips in medical waste disposal.

Published 1 July 2022

Last updated 1 July 2022

The proper disposal of medical waste is vitally important to our communities and our environment. When waste is improperly disposed of, drinking water can become contaminated, toxic metals can spread in the environment and disease and infection can spread.

At CCS, we’re here to empower you to keep our citizens and our environment safe, comply with waste legislation and achieve your social value aims, while making sure you make the most of your budget. 

Here, we list 4 tips to ensure you get the medical waste disposal services you need at the best possible price.

Tip 1: Find the best procurement route

Use a procurement route that:

  • fully complies with procurement regulations
  • provides access to a broad range of suppliers from the industry
  • has experts who have helped similar buyers with their waste procurements

Wherever your organisation is in the UK, you can run medical and hazardous waste procurements using our Building Cleaning Services DPS. It has a set of contact terms that are pre-agreed by suppliers, and has experts at hand to help you every step of the way.

Tip 2: Outline exactly what you want

An informative, accurate and detailed requirements specification is essential for any successful procurement.

It’s important to include all of the key details that suppliers need to assess their potential offerings and produce a bid that meets your requirements. For example, it’s good to include:

  • accurate estimates of volumes per site, split by waste type
  • any access restrictions for each site
  • current collection frequencies
  • key performance indicators (KPIs) such as collection rates
  • reporting requirements such as performance data, issue resolution data

Our experts can provide feedback on your requirements specification and other tender documents, to ensure you cover all the important information and structure it in a way that helps suppliers create their bid.

Tip 3: Incorporate social value into your quality questions

The healthcare industry’s climate footprint is equivalent to 4.4% of global net emissions. If the health sector were a country, it would be the fifth-largest emitter on the planet. Procurement plays a big part in incentivising greener solutions, enabling the UK to achieve net zero emissions by 2050.

By incorporating social value into your requirements specification and quality questions, it encourages suppliers to invest in more environmentally friendly equipment and technology. Newer equipment with more advanced technology is more efficient, more reliable and has greater potential for waste-to-energy opportunities.

CCS can help you to form your quality questions to bring out the supplier that best meets your requirements.

Tip 4: Give plenty of time for your procurement

This is important for any procurement, but particularly medical waste due to its potential complexities. Creating your procurement timeline is one of the first steps you should take. Start with the proposed service start date and work backwards. 

Give ample time for suppliers to ask clarification questions and write their bid. This means suppliers will have sufficient time to assess their waste processing capacity and match their service with your requirements.

CCS can provide example timelines and help you to develop your own, factoring in time for document creation, tender launch, clarification questions, evaluation and consensus, any internal approvals, standstill (if applicable), contract award and mobilisation.

Even if you’re in the very early stages of preparation for your medical or hazardous waste procurement, it’s worth contacting us so we can add it to our procurement pipeline and provide early support. If you’ve had conflicting priorities and don’t have much time for your tender exercise, again please contact us so we can provide support.

Let us bring power to your procurement

Our Building Cleaning Services agreement offers you a flexible way to source medical and hazardous waste services that suit your organisation’s needs, wherever you are in the UK. To find out more and take your next step:

  • Get in touch via our online form quoting ‘RM6130 Building Cleaning Services’ and a member of our expert team will be in touch.
  • Alternatively, you call call us on: 0345 410 2222
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