Breastfeeding is an environmentally friendly process; however when feeding relies on pumped mother’s milk, the environmental picture changes. Waste plastics and heavy metals raise concerns regarding resource efficiency, waste treatment, and detrimental effects on health. Reliance on pumped milk rather than breastfeeding may also effect obesity and family size, which in turn have further environmental impacts. Information on pump equipment rarely includes environmental information and may focus on marketing the product for maximum profit. In order for parents, health workers, and health policy makers to make informed decisions about the reliance on pumped mother’s milk, they need information on the broad and far reaching environmental aspects. There was no published research found that examined the environmental impact of using pumped mother’s milk. A project is ongoing to examine this issue.
Food waste in hospitals is of major concern for two reasons: one, healthcare needs to move toward preventative and demand led models for sustainability and two, food system sustainability needs to seek preventative measures such as diet adaptation and waste prevention. The impact of breast-milk substitute use on health services are well established in literature in terms of healthcare implications, cost and resourcing, however as a food demand and waste management issue little has been published to date. This paper presents the use of a desk based backcasting method to analyse food waste prevention, mitigation and management options within the Irish Maternity Service. Best practice in healthcare provision and waste management regulations are used to frame solutions. Strategic problem orientation revealed that 61% of the volume of ready to use breast-milk substitutes purchased by maternity services remains unconsumed and ends up as waste. Thirteen viable strategies to prevent and manage this waste were identified. Significant opportunities exist to prevent waste and also decrease food demand leading to both positive health and environmental outcomes. Backcasting methods display great promise in delivering food waste management strategies in healthcare settings, especially where evidenced best practice policies exist to inform solution forming processes. In terms of food waste prevention and management, difficulties arise in distinguishing between demand reduction, waste prevention and waste reduction measures under the current Waste Management Hierarchy definitions. Ultimately demand reduction at source requires prioritisation, a strategy which is complimentary to health policy on infant feeding.
Quantifying waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) not arising in documented and formal WEEE collection is a major challenge. This paper presents a method to characterize and estimate quantities of WEEE arising in scrap metal. Two European Catalogue List of Waste, codes 17 04 05, construction and demolition wastesiron and steel and 20 01 40, metals separated out from municipal, household, commercial, and industrial waste, were analyzed on arrival to scrap metal sites. Metal scrap originated from household and business sources and excluded end-of-life vehicles and batteries. The point of sampling eliminated risks of double counting. Four representative sites across Ireland were surveyed over the course of 1 year. UNU-Keys were used to assign estimated masses based on identification of WEEE items as they arrived in loads entering scrap metal sites. In total, 415 tonnes of metal scrap were sampled and 747 individual WEEE items were identified. It is estimated that 3.91% ± 1.88% of the mass sampled was WEEE equating to 2.28 kg/capita. Although large equipment dominated the count and mass-based assessments of untreated WEEE in metal scrap, 35% of items identified were classified as small equipment. Professional equipment made up 29% of the estimated mass and 25% of WEEE items observed. Policy makers tasked with enhancing WEEE collection rates need to consider interventions targeting construction, demolition, and renovation, especially planning so that impending WEEE items such as photovoltaic panels are appropriately treated in the future. This article met the requirements for a gold-silver JIE data openness badge described in http://jie.click/badges.
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