Sustainable healthcare waste management: a qualitative investigation of its feasibility within a county in the south west of England

Abstract

This paper aims to investigate the possibility of safely and lawfully employing a sustainable reduce, reuse, recycle philosophy in the management of waste within healthcare settings. Climate change presents significant threats to our wellbeing on a global scale and provides a new challenge for healthcare organisations. As the United Kingdom’s biggest public sector employer, the National Health Service has enormous power to mitigate the impact of climate change by implementing sustainable practices. One area in which sustainable practices could be employed is within healthcare waste management. The investigation used a qualitative approach using semi-structured interviews with 20 participants responsible for the safe management of healthcare waste in an English county.

Interviews indicated that topics such as knowledge, the environment, finance and legislation influence attitudes and behaviour in healthcare waste management. Participants were clear that from financial and environmental perspectives an aim to reduce, reuse and recycle waste in health care was desirable. Attempts to implement sustainable healthcare waste management practices, informed by a sustainable waste management philosophy are desirable both financially and environmentally. Research is needed to explore behaviour, attitudes, learning, knowledge and the role of the environment in healthcare waste management.