WASTE MANAGEMENT Anenta's background and history


Anenta was founded in 2014 following the reform of the NHS and the implementation of the Health and Social Care Act. The founders – Graham Flynn, Andrew Gordon, and Scott Ellard – identified ‘significant failings in the delivery of waste management solutions to the sector, costing the NHS and businesses millions of pounds each year’. Combining their technical knowledge of healthcare waste and associated operational experience with their ability in software development, they created Vector ‘to set this right’. “Our previous roles within the public sector, particularly in the NHS, helped us understand the unique challenges created by changing governmental strategies and priorities,” explains Graham Flynn. “Knowing the financial constraints and stringent procurement rules the NHS has to operate under enabled us to assist the public sector in delivering to its targets, while taking this knowledge and applying it to other healthcare sectors such as care homes and those services delivered by local authorities.”


Anenta’s senior team quickly identified that the only way to enable the healthcare sector to hit its targets – and to make savings within the strict parameters that it must operate – was to deploy an online management system that enables the tracking of queries against contract specifications through the analysis of data. They invested over £1 m, ‘as well as a great deal of time and effort’, to create an agile ‘tech solution’ to the address the challenge – Vector. They continue to invest in the platform today.


stating that 15 million orange clinical waste bags could be used per month during these extraordinary times. Were this to be the case, existing capacity for clinical bagged waste would be outstripped.


A ‘route of last resort’


However, for municipal waste incinerators to be used for the incineration of COVID- 19 infectious waste, both the waste producer and the municipal waste incinerator provider must demonstrate that the producer has pursued all other permitted options available for the waste’s treatment or incineration before turning to the municipal waste to energy route. This is a route of last resort – not a short cut – designed to cope with extraordinary circumstances. Understandably, this has caused some confusion within the NHS, not helped by the fact that different rules apply to healthcare workers in the community, who can dispose of PPE in the household waste as long as it is quarantined for 72 hours.


With these measures in place, there are no major barriers to the waste treatment of PPE, meaning that materials can be processed quickly and effectively. The only limiting factors are the effective implementation of logistics for the collection of PPE materials and clinical waste, and the need to ensure that costs do not balloon as demand rises.


Rising demand could mean higher prices


Over the past two years, the price for the treatment and disposal of clinical waste via incineration has increased from £650 per tonne to £1,500 per tonne. As demand rises, then so too could prices, even for ‘alternative’ waste treatment, as the market responds to a growth opportunity;


it’s important to remember that some incinerator operators also have ‘alternative treatment’ facilities, and may be tempted to ratchet pricing accordingly. This is where NHS authorities and sites need to take great care to ensure that they are working with reputable companies who choose to keep their costs in check, supporting the NHS at this testing time, rather than not profiteering from it. Now, more than ever, protecting the NHS’s bottom line has a vital role to play in protecting the frontline: the heroes and heroines that are looking after the health and wellbeing of the nation. This is where


Graham Flynn


Anenta’s managing director, Graham Flynn, is a highly experienced environmental services professional and entrepreneur, who has worked ‘at every level’ of the waste management industry. His two previous environmental services companies have been successfully acquired. He has a BSc in Environmental Management and Biology, and is a qualified Dangerous Goods Safety Adviser (DGSA). His wide-ranging experience includes four years working for private entities developing


UNFCCC-accredited CDMs (Clean Development Mechanisms) in Central and South America, and six years within the NHS focusing on the stabilisation of waste management practices and contracts across London. He was appointed head of Environmental Services for Essentia (part of Guys and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust), where he and his team delivered significant change, driving improvements across all aspects of primary care environmental management, including energy, waste, and sustainability.


Combining previous business management experience, public sector experience, and wide-ranging technical environmental knowledge, he identified the potential to make greater improvements in the delivery and management of environmental services in the NHS by reducing internal bureaucracy. As the founder of Anenta, his vision remains ‘to deliver change via an external contract management business committed to providing bespoke, affordable, and professional services that include recycling, general waste, saniwaste, and dealing with confidential and clinical waste streams’.


July 2020 Health Estate Journal 35


Responsible waste management is a key priority for the NHS.


we hope to play our part in helping the NHS tackle the challenges of COVID-19 – by enabling it to specify and put into place appropriate waste management contracts and services that will serve the NHS to best effect.


By realising the benefits and savings that are possible through Anenta’s proprietary online total waste management platform, we aim to serve the nation by supporting the NHS. Through the empowerment of all stakeholders – creating and maintaining trust between the customer and service- provider – we enable the delivery not only of correctly specified contracts and services, but also best value and stable prices, freeing up more money for the frontline. This is how – over the past four years – Anenta has saved the NHS over £3.2 m on existing contracts across more than 30 CCGs for GP activity and NHS England pharmacies in London and the South East – a figure that is set to increase dramatically through the implementation of transparency, contract control, and accountability, delivered by Anenta’s management platform and expertise. hej


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