Quantitative and Qualitative Assessment of Healthcare Waste and Resource Potential Assessment

Abstract

Among other sectors prioritized in delivering the circular economy targets, such a major sector as health care should also be highlighted. According to World Bank data, current health expenditure is still rising, reaching globally 10.02 % in 2016 compared to 8.56 % in 2000. To ensure protection of public health, the management of health care waste should be based on the waste management hierarchy. Besides the preventive measures (waste minimization, green procurement, sustainable planning, environmental management systems), treatment methods should also be viewed in the context of the waste management hierarchy. To analyse the possibility to apply circular economy principles into health care waste management, evaluation of resource recovery alternatives as well as its multi-dimensional assessment was done. In the article quantitative and qualitative assessment was conducted through multicriteria decision analysis with a goal to do a quantitative and qualitative assessment of healthcare waste and resource potential assessment.

Keywords

• circular economy
• multicriteria decision analysis
• resource recovery
• valuable health care waste