Healthcare waste management processes and transition towards a circular economy

Abstract The new Waste Directive 2018/851/EU strengthens the role of waste prevention and emphasizes recycling to facilitate the transition to a circular economy. So far, it has not been legislatively necessary for the Czech Republic to look at waste from a broader perspective, especially in healthcare, where the waste management is perceived as a separate process suitable for outsourcing. With the new directive and the transition to a circular economy, the waste management process becomes part of strategic management processes. These processes are partially systematically covered by the standards of the environmental management system, used mainly in the industrial sector. The optimal solution is a reassessment of the entire waste management of the medical facility and the inclusion of the principle of waste prevention in the decision to purchase a product or service. The necessary condition for the successful implementation of the circular economy is to minimize negative impacts on health and the environment while maintaining the economic sustainability of such a solution. Setting up generally sustainable management of medical facilities thus goes beyond current clinical practice. The health technology assessment model provides several domains that complement life cycle analysis and health impact assessment, including a health risk assessment method. The outputs of the above analyzes and evaluations cover the maximum scope of public interest in healthcare. A practical app...
Source: The European Journal of Public Health - Category: General Medicine Source Type: research