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Healthcare Waste Generation Worldwide and Its Dependence on Socio-Economic and Environmental Factors

Author

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  • Minas Minoglou

    (Laboratory of Solid and Hazardous Waste Management, Department of Environmental Engineering, Democritus University of Thrace, Xanthi 67132, Greece)

  • Spyridoula Gerassimidou

    (Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK)

  • Dimitrios Komilis

    (Laboratory of Solid and Hazardous Waste Management, Department of Environmental Engineering, Democritus University of Thrace, Xanthi 67132, Greece)

Abstract

This paper examines the dependence of the healthcare waste (HCW) generation rate on several social-economic and environmental parameters. Correlations were calculated between the quantities of healthcare waste generated (expressed in kg/bed/day) versus economic indices (GDP, healthcare expenditure per capita), social indices (HDI, IHDI, MPI, life expectancy, mean years of schooling, HIV prevalence, deaths due to tuberculosis and malaria, and under five mortality rate), and an environmental sustainability index (total CO 2 emissions) from 42 countries worldwide. The statistical analysis included the examination of the normality of the data and the formation of linear multiple regression models to further investigate the correlation between those indices and HCW generation rates. Pearson and Spearman correlation coefficients were also calculated for all pairwise comparisons. Results showed that the life expectancy, the HDI, the mean years of schooling and the CO 2 emissions positively affect the HCW generation rates and can be used as statistical predictors of those rates. The resulting best reduced regression model included the life expectancy and the CO 2 emissions and explained 85% of the variability of the response.

Suggested Citation

  • Minas Minoglou & Spyridoula Gerassimidou & Dimitrios Komilis, 2017. "Healthcare Waste Generation Worldwide and Its Dependence on Socio-Economic and Environmental Factors," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(2), pages 1-13, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:9:y:2017:i:2:p:220-:d:89471
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Thobile Zikhathile & Harrison Atagana & Joseph Bwapwa & David Sawtell, 2022. "A Review of the Impact That Healthcare Risk Waste Treatment Technologies Have on the Environment," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(19), pages 1-18, September.
    2. Anastasios Sepetis & Paraskevi N. Zaza & Fotios Rizos & Pantelis G. Bagos, 2022. "Identifying and Predicting Healthcare Waste Management Costs for an Optimal Sustainable Management System: Evidence from the Greek Public Sector," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(16), pages 1-20, August.
    3. María Carmen Carnero, 2020. "Waste Segregation FMEA Model Integrating Intuitionistic Fuzzy Set and the PAPRIKA Method," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 8(8), pages 1-29, August.
    4. Ali Ebadi Torkayesh & Hadi Rezaei Vandchali & Erfan Babaee Tirkolaee, 2021. "Multi-Objective Optimization for Healthcare Waste Management Network Design with Sustainability Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(15), pages 1-17, July.
    5. Georgios Giakoumakis & Dorothea Politi & Dimitrios Sidiras, 2021. "Medical Waste Treatment Technologies for Energy, Fuels, and Materials Production: A Review," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(23), pages 1-30, December.
    6. Jayakrishna Kandasamy & Yatin P. Kinare & Miheer T. Pawar & Abhijit Majumdar & Vimal K.E.K. & Rohit Agrawal, 2022. "Circular economy adoption challenges in medical waste management for sustainable development: An empirical study," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(5), pages 958-975, October.
    7. Else F. de Ridder & Herman J. Friedericy & Anne C. van der Eijk & Jenny Dankelman & Frank Willem Jansen, 2022. "A New Method to Improve the Environmental Sustainability of the Operating Room: Healthcare Sustainability Mode and Effect Analysis (HSMEA)," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(21), pages 1-15, October.
    8. Sakchai Pattra & Cung Nawl Thawng & Sanhawat Chaiwong, 2023. "“Four Joints of Power” Innovation of Community Involvement in Medical Waste Management of Bed-Bound Patients in Thailand," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(2), pages 1-17, January.
    9. María Carmen Carnero, 2020. "Fuzzy TOPSIS Model for Assessment of Environmental Sustainability: A Case Study with Patient Judgements," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 8(11), pages 1-43, November.
    10. Muhammad Hammad Mushtaq & Fahad Noor & M. A. Mujtaba & Salman Asghar & Abdulfatah Abdu Yusuf & Manzoore Elahi M. Soudagar & Abrar Hussain & Mohamed Fathy Badran & Kiran Shahapurkar, 2022. "Environmental Performance of Alternative Hospital Waste Management Strategies Using Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(22), pages 1-16, November.

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