Effective Medical Waste Management for Sustainable Green Healthcare

Abstract

This study examines the importance of medical waste management activities for developing a sustainable green healthcare environment. This study applied a multiple methodological approach as follows. A thorough review of the literature was performed to delineate the factors that have been explored for reducing medical waste; hospital staff who handle medical waste were surveyed to obtain their opinions on these factors; the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) was applied to determine the priorities among the identified key factors; and experts’ opinions were consulted to assess the actual applicability of the results derived by the AHP. The study identified the following factors as the most important: medical waste management (26.6%), operational management issues (21.7%), training for medical waste management procedures (17.8%), raising awareness (17.5%), and environmental assessment (16.4%). This study analyzed the contributing factors to the generation of medical waste based on the data collected from medical staff and the AHP for developing a sustainable green healthcare environment. The study results provide theoretical and practical implications for implementing effective medical waste management toward a sustainable green healthcare environment.

Management of Biomedical Waste in the South of the Democratic Republic Congo: Current Situation

“…Colour is an important indicator for the separation and identification of different categories of waste in appropriately coloured containers. They should be properly and labelled according to where they were generated [18,19].…”

Environmental Biotechnology for Medical Waste Management: A Review of Current Practices and Future Directions

“…d. Furthermore, implementing sustainable medical waste management practices can be expensive, which can be particularly difficult for healthcare organizations with low resources. As a result, simple-to-use and maintain innovative and affordable solutions are required [19]. e. The development of scalable, sustainable technologies that meet the aforementioned difficulties is one of the future avenues for managing medical waste in the field of environmental biotechnology.…”

“…This may entail treating and managing medical waste using cuttingedge technologies like plasma gasification, microbial degradation, and waste-to-energy conversion [49,50]. f. The management of medical waste must also be incorporated into the larger healthcare sustainability framework, which emphasises resource efficiency, community engagement, and a reduction in the environmental impact of healthcare facilities [19].…”

“…However, biotechnology in waste management is not without challenges and limitations, such as ethical, social, economic, and regulatory issues [18]. The study identified the following factors as the most important for reducing medical waste: medical waste management (26.6%), operational management issues (21.7%), training for medical waste management procedures (17.8%), raising awareness (17.5%), and environmental assessment (16.4%) [19]. In this review paper, one of the key factors of medical waste, management, is explained in detail as follows:…”

Current and Future Sustainability Traits of Digestive Endoscopy

“…Furthermore, the development of standardized guidelines at national and international levels for healthcare waste management is essential. Lastly, concerted efforts are needed to minimize costs and risks associated with healthcare waste management, ensuring economic efficiency while upholding environmental and public health standards [80].…”