Healthcare Waste Management System Research Articles

A Pilot Study into the Use of Qualitative Methods to Improve the Awareness of Barriers to Sustainable Medical Waste Segregation within the United Kingdom’s National Health Service

Within the United Kingdom, most medical waste is incorrectly classified as hazardous and disposed of via incineration or alternative treatment. Currently, no research has been conducted on why such a large quantity of medical waste is erroneously segregated. This pilot study explores the barriers to correct segregation with the aim to decrease the volume of incinerated waste by investigating why medical waste is wrongly identified as hazardous. No previous data are available to compare results, and so this study demonstrates the significance of using qualitative methods (questionnaires and focus groups) to bring awareness to issues faced within medical facilities when segregating waste. The low availability of different bins as well as lack of space and the healthcare workers’ busy schedules were identified as main reasons for poor segregation. Bins were sparsely placed, and staff lacked time to find the appropriate one leading to incorrect segregation of non-hazardous waste. Lack of information around whether a material was recyclable or not led to less recycled waste. When ways to engage with this issue were discussed, most medical staff favoured quick forms of information provision, such as posters, whereas a participant proclaimed longer hands-on style sessions as more effective. The findings of this study provide evidence that governmental strategies focused on sustainable medical waste management should direct their attention to the placement and availability of bins, whilst including ‘on-the-ground’ personnel in their decision making. This pilot study showed the value in using qualitative methods when current data are lacking and can be repeated by other healthcare facilities to collectively grow a greater awareness of the sustainability issues faced by the UK healthcare waste management system.

Healthcare Waste Management: An Overview

Healthcare waste (HCW) is a vital global issue that cannot be overlooked due to its threat to humans and the environment stemming from its infectious and hazardous nature. This study examines previous works undertaken on healthcare waste management (HCWM) practices around the world, notably the developing countries with a particular interest in segregation, collection, transportation, treatment, and disposal of HCW. This study draws attention to the environmental hazards arising from each stage of HCWM. Factors affecting HCWM practices have also been discussed. This study revealed evidence of poor HCWM practices in many developing countries. It also showed the impacts of human and non-human factors on HCWM practices. Proper documentation, sufficient budget, adequate supply of HCWM materials, frequent training of healthcare workers, and development of local manuals and guides are essential if a country is determined to achieve an efficient and sustainable HCWM system. Liquid HCW needs to be investigated as much as the solid HCW. Exploration of HCW minimization, reuse, and recycling opportunities is recommended for future research. The use of Modern-day technology such as Artificial Intelligence and geographic information system (GIS) has provided good results so far. However, they can be explored further for prediction, real-time monitoring, and reporting of HCW. The present study can be adopted as a guide in discussing issues about HCWM.

An Improved Strategy to Effectively Manage Healthcare Waste after COVID-19 in Republic of Korea

During the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, 24,289 tons of infectious waste was generated in 2021 in Korea, a 320% increase compared to that generated in 2020 (5788 tons). The disposal of other healthcare waste has been delayed because COVID-19 infectious waste must be disposed of first, leading to long-term concerns related to the lack of healthcare waste disposal capacity. To solve this problem, this study investigated healthcare waste classification systems in Korea and overseas. We analyzed the current state of healthcare waste in Korea and compared the treatment methods and healthcare waste treatment systems by country. The results showed that Korea has a strict healthcare waste management system compared to other countries, which relies on dedicated incinerators and transport. It is difficult to expand incinerators exclusively for healthcare waste due to site selection issues because they incinerate infectious waste. Therefore, to solve the healthcare waste disposal problem, Korea should improve its management system to reduce treatment amounts. This study suggests that general healthcare waste that is considered less infectious should be excluded from healthcare waste-exclusive treatment and that sterilization/grinding as an intermediate treatment method should be allowed.

Development and Application of Integrated Indicators for Assessing Healthcare Waste Management Systems in Kenyan Hospitals

Development and Application of Integrated Indicators for Assessing Healthcare Waste Management Systems in Kenyan Hospitals

When should DIY have a localized healthcare waste management system?

Purpose: The 2018 healthcare waste management crisis catalyzed a critical review of the concerns expressed by the Health Office (dinkes) and healthcare facilities regarding healthcare waste management in the Special Region of Yogyakarta (DIY). Due to this crisis, the Ministry of Health hired Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM) to look into potential solutions and promote DIY government policy responses. This paper examines the management strategy during crisis times and possible alternative solutions.
 Methods: This paper uses focused group discussions reports involving separate groups of (1) environmental health officials from community health centers, (2) hospitals, (3) environment health officials of district health authorities, and (4) cross-sectoral province officials in the Yogyakarta Special Region. It is part of a project 'A case study of strengthening regional-based medical waste management model', fund from the Environmental Health Directorate, Directorate General of Public Health, Ministry of Health (Project KN 01.03/6.1/0198/2019).
 Result: A simulation of policy options based on health facility managers suggests that a province-based system is the most profitable in the long term for DIY, with several possible options. The national policy roadmap was considered inadequate to respond to DIY's urgent local needs. Furthermore, the series of meetings succeeded in forming an informal forum between health facilities, provincial health offices, and associations of hospital environmental sanitation experts, monitoring medical waste management.
 Conclusion: The 2018 medical waste management crisis led to the formulation of policy response choices tailored to the capacity of DIY. These choices considered the expenditures and legal sanctions faced by healthcare facilities and the economic value of a region-based waste system for local government authorities. This comprehensive approach highlights the importance of local capacity. It needs to shape effective and sustainable medical waste management policies, underscoring the necessity of region-specific strategies in the face of national health crises.

Healthcare Waste and Sustainability: Implications for a Circular Economy

The field of healthcare waste systems is an emerging research field with new methodologies being developed to reinforce sustainability. Medical treatments are becoming more sophisticated and in demand due to increasing incidences of chronic disease. Healthcare is also becoming widely available worldwide. Healthcare waste disposal includes multiple disposal methods including incineration, landfilling, and chemical treatments. These rudimentary methods and their increased prevalence present their own problems that negatively impact both the environment and public health. As a result, there is a global call for healthcare waste systems to transition from a linear to a circular economy (CE). The CE philosophy is employed in other waste management industries. There are limited studies, however, that assess the challenges to CE implementation, particularly in the United States. This research presents the challenges to the implementation of a CE in healthcare waste management systems. The challenges were determined by an extensive literature review. Three experts from the industry verified and provided additional context to the challenges through meetings. The challenges were grouped into seven categories: supply chain management, regulations and policies, industry, organizations internal, technology and operational, economic, and funding, and social. A decision-making trial and evaluation (DEMATEL) was used to rank the challenges and illustrate interrelationships between the challenges. The most significant challenge was found to be a lack of governmental legislation on CE healthcare policies, followed by a lack of a realistic CE business model and lack of consumer interest in the environment. The research will provide context to further developments into adopting CE practices. The limitations and future scope of the research are presented.

Status of health care waste management plans and practices in public health care facilities in Gauteng Province, South Africa

BackgroundHealth care waste management is a challenge due to the composition of the waste generated within a health care facility, of which 85% is domestic waste, and at least 15% is hazardous waste or health care risk waste (has been in contact with blood, body fluids or tissues from humans and could cause disease). In this study, we evaluated the status quo of health care waste management plans (HCWMPs) and practices in public health care facilities in Gauteng Province, South Africa.MethodsA situational analysis was employed in health care facilities (HCFs) that generated more than 20 kg (N = 42) of health care risk waste (HCRW) per day. Data was collected from officials responsible for the management of health care waste using a self-administered questionnaire whilst Chief Executive Officers/ managers of the HFCs were interviewed.ResultsThe results showed that most (79.0%) of the health care waste officers (HCWOs) as well as management (84.6%) agreed to have HCWMPs in place. The majority (76.9%) of the HCFs have a dedicated person appointed to manage health care waste with the majority (67%) being environmental health practitioners. According to management, only 30.8% have formally appointed an integrated HCW committee. Only 11.7% of the HCWOs are guided by the Occupational Health and Safety Act to develop their HCWMPs with only 20.5% with health care waste minimisation strategies in place.ConclusionThe study concluded that there is limited integration of HCWMPs as inadequate health and safety aspects, environmental pollution as well as community participation was reported. The novelty of the study is to contribute to a body of knowledge, information on the establishment of an effective health care waste management system in public health care facilities and for decision-making purposes.

Health care waste management in health facilities during the COVID-19 pandemic in Ghana

Background: Healthcare waste management (HCWM) system in healthcare facilities is essential in dealing with the spread of infectious diseases, especially during an outbreak period such as the COVID-19 pandemic. The study assessed health care waste management situation in selected healthcare facilities in the greater Accra and Ashanti regions of Ghana during the COVID-19 pandemic.Methods: This was a multi-facility-based cross-sectional study that used a monitoring tool of the health facilities regulatory agency of Ghana to collect information on health care waste management practices at the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Data was gathered from 501 healthcare facilities in the greater Accra (335) and Ashanti (151) regions. Descriptive, Chi-square and multiple logistic regression were performed. All statistical analyses were considered significant at an alpha level of 0.05.Results: Less than half (45.7%) of the health facilities were assessed as having HCWM systems with majority (54.3%) having effective infectious waste management system. The health facilities in the greater Accra region (38.8%) and Ashanti region (60.9%) were categorized as poor on healthcare waste management system. The assessment levels of governance/leadership, management, quality assurance system, human resource, infection prevention and control equipment and water management were all significantly associated with the adherence to good HCWM systems.Conclusions: Health facilities were assessed as having good healthcare waste management systems, especially in the greater Accra region compared to the Ashanti, however treatment and safe disposal should be improved.

Proposed Solutions to Address the Challenges of Medical Waste Management in Health Facilities in Kamukunji Sub-County, Nairobi City County, Kenya

Medical waste management in Kenya has been greatly affected by the country's elevated production levels. The majority of medical facilities do not have an extensive medical waste management system, or if they do, they do not handle waste thoroughly, and therefore is detrimental to humans and the environment. This research focuses on health facilities’ management of medical waste in Kamukunji sub-county, assessing the specific problems of medical waste management in that area. This was a study focusing on healthcare workers, their working conditions and habits. This study was an analytical cross-sectional study design. Multistage sampling methods for the selection of 10 health facilities and 141 study participants. The R square was 0.746, indicating that medical waste management was harmed by a lack of funding, insufficient logistics, a lack of disposal sites, and a lack of understanding. This demonstrated a 74.6 percent variance in healthcare waste management due to a lack of funding, insufficient logistical supply, a lack of disposal site, and a lack of awareness. The remaining 25.4% implies that there were additional issues affecting the healthcare waste management systems of the ten health facilities evaluated. By explicitly identifying a given color with a certain category and its accompanying hazard, segregation aids to make waste processing safer. During the research period, Pumwani Maternity Hospital generated the most medical waste (80Kg) and Bahati Health Center generated the least (15Kg). The study concludes that periodic updates in medical waste management are necessary, as is refresher training for healthcare professionals and waste handlers. Additionally, it is advised that each health care facility have a safe and hygienic system in place for the handling, segregation, c collection, storage, transportation, treatment, and disposal of medical waste. All health facilities in Kenya, the study states, should adhere to the National Policy on Injection Safety and Medical Waste Management (2007). The 2007 strategy aims to emphasize the need of advocating for both the support and execution necessary to adequately manage healthcare waste. Keywords: Medical waste generation, health risks, medical waste management solutions, challenges of medical waste management, health facilities

A Cluster-based Stratified Hybrid Decision Support Model under Uncertainty: Sustainable Healthcare Landfill Location Selection.

Nowadays, healthcare waste management has become one of the significant environmental, health, and social problems. Due to population and urbanization growth and an increase in healthcare waste disposals according to the growing number of diseases and pandemics like COVID-19, disposal of healthcare waste has become a critical issue. Authorities in big cities require reliable decision support systems to empower them to make strategic decisions to provide safe disposal methods with a prospective vision. Since inappropriate healthcare waste management systems would definitely bring up dangerous environmental, social, health, and economic issues for every city. Therefore, this paper attempts to address the landfill location selection problem for healthcare waste using a novel decision support system. Novel decision support model integrates K-means algorithms with Stratified Best-Worst Method (SBWM) and a novel hybrid MARCOS-CoCoSo under grey interval numbers. The proposed decision support system considers waste generate rate in medical centers, future unforeseen but potential events, and uncertainty in experts’ opinion to optimally locate required landfills for safe and economical disposal of dangerous healthcare waste. To investigate the feasibility and applicability of the proposed methodology, a real case study is performed for Mazandaran province in Iran. Our proposed methodology could efficiently deal with 79 medical centers within 4 clusters addressing 9 criteria to prioritize candidate locations. Moreover, the sensitivity analysis of weight coefficients is carried out to evaluate the results. Finally, the efficiency of the methodology is compared with several well-known methods and its high efficiency is demonstrated. Results recommend adherence to local rules and regulations, and future expansion potential as the top two criteria with importance values of 0.173 and 0.164, respectively. Later, best location alternatives are determined for each cluster of medical centers.

A fuzzy quantitative model for assessing the performance of pharmaceutical supply chain under uncertainty

PurposeThis study aims to investigate a reliability-level demand-oriented pharmaceutical supply chain design with maximal anticipated demand coverage. Different hospitals with the particular reliability value associated with the various pharmaceutical items (PIs) are considered. An inter-connected multi-period supply chain comprising manufacturers, distribution centers, hospitals and patients is assumed for the smooth flow of health-care items, enhancing supply chain reliability. A reliability index for PIs is depicted to highlight product preference and facilitate hospitals’ service levels for patients.Design/methodology/approachA mixed-integer multi-objective programming problem that maximizes maximal demand coverage minimizes the total economic costs and pharmaceutical delivery time is depicted under intuitionistic fuzzy uncertainty. Further, a novel interactive neutrosophic programming approach is developed to solve the proposed pharmaceutical supply chain management (PSCM) model. Each objective’s marginal evaluation is elicited by various sorts of membership functions such as linear, exponential and hyperbolic types of membership functions and depicted the truth, indeterminacy and falsity membership degrees under a neutrosophic environment.FindingsThe proposed PSCM model is implemented on a real case study and solved using an interactive neutrosophic programming approach that reveals the proposed methods’ validity and applicability. An ample opportunity to generate the compromise solution is suggested by tuning various parameters. The outcomes are evaluated with practical managerial implications based on the significant findings. Finally, conclusions and future research scope are addressed based on the proposed work.Research limitations/implicationsThe propounded study has some limitations that can be addressed in future research. The discussed PSCM model can be merged with and extended by considering environmental factors such as the health-care waste management system, which is not included in this study. Uncertainty among parameters due to randomness can be incorporated and can be tackled with historical data. Besides, proposed interactive neutrosophic programming approach (INPA), various metaheuristic approaches may be applied to solve the proposed PSCM model as a future research scope.Practical implicationsThe strategy advised is to provide an opportunity to create supply chains and manufacturing within India by helping existing manufacturers to expand, identifying new manufacturers, hand-holding and facilitating, teams of officers, engineers and scientists deployed and import only if necessary to meet timelines. Thus, any pharmaceutical company or organization can adopt the production and distribution management initiatives amongst hospitals to strengthen and enable the pharmaceutical company while fighting fatal diseases during emergencies. Finally, managers or policy-makers can take advantage of the current study and extract fruitful pieces of information and knowledge regarding the optimal production and distribution strategies while making decisions.Originality/valueThis research work manifests the demand-oriented extension of the integrated PSCM design with maximum expected coverage, where different hospitals with pre-determined reliability values for various PIs are taken into consideration. The practical managerial implications are explored that immensely support the managers or practitioners to adopt the production and distribution policies for the PIs to ensure the sustainability in supply chain design.

Bi-Objective Adaptive Large Neighborhood Search Algorithm for the Healthcare Waste Periodic Location Inventory Routing Problem

There has been an unexpected increase in the amount of healthcare waste during the COVID-19 pandemic. Managing healthcare waste is vital, as improper practices in the waste system can lead to the further spread of the virus. To develop effective and sustainable waste management systems, decisions in all processes from the source of the waste to its disposal should be evaluated together. Strategic decisions involve locating waste processing centers, while operational decisions deal with waste collection. Although the periodic collection of waste is used in practice, it has not been studied in the relevant literature. This paper integrates the periodic inventory routing problem with location decisions for designing healthcare waste management systems and presents a bi-objective mixed-integer nonlinear programming model that minimizes operating costs and risk simultaneously. Due to the complexity of the problem, a two-step approach is proposed. The first stage provides a mixed-integer linear model that generates visiting schedules to source nodes. The second stage offers a Bi-Objective Adaptive Large Neighborhood Search Algorithm (BOALNS) that processes the remaining decisions considered in the problem. The performance of the algorithm is tested on several hypothetical problem instances. Computational analyses are conducted by comparing BOALNS with its other two versions, Adaptive Large Neighborhood Search Algorithm and Bi-Objective Large Neighborhood Search Algorithm (BOLNS). The computational experiments demonstrate that our proposed algorithm is superior to these algorithms in several performance evaluation metrics. Also, it is observed that the adaptive search engine increases the capability of BOALNS to achieve high-quality Pareto-optimal solutions.

Research on Optimization of Healthcare Waste Management System Based on Green Governance Principle in the COVID-19 Pandemic.

At present, strategies for controlling the COVID-19 pandemic have made significant and strategic strides; however, and the large quantities of healthcare treatment waste have become another important “battlefield”. For example, in Wuhan, the production rate of healthcare waste in hospitals, communities, temporary storage, and other units was much faster than the disposal rate during the COVID-19 pandemic. Improving the efficiency of healthcare waste transfer and treatment has become an important task for government health and environmental protection departments at all levels. Based on the situation of healthcare waste disposal in Wuhan during the critical period of the pandemic, this paper analyzes and studies green governance principles and summarizes the problems that exist in the current healthcare waste management system. Through the establishment of temporary storage facilities along transit routes, digital simulation and bionic experiments were carried out in the Hongshan District of Wuhan to improve the efficiency of healthcare waste transfer. Furthermore, this study discusses the coordination and cooperation of government, hospitals, communities, and other departments in the healthcare waste disposal process and provides guiding suggestions for healthcare waste disposal nationwide in order to deal with potential risks and provide effective references in all regions.

A preliminary life cycle assessment on healthcare waste management in Chittagong City, Bangladesh

Life cycle assessment is a decision-supporting tool in waste management practice; however, very few researches have been performed on the evaluation of healthcare waste management based on life cycle perspective. So this preliminary life cycle assessment study was conducted on healthcare waste management in Chittagong city. Three scenarios were developed for the present healthcare waste management system based on previous data along with one proposed scenario. All the calculated values of each scenario were put into life cycle assessment database. Then the collected data were analyzed by adopting SimaPro 7 to calculate global warming, human toxicity, freshwater aquatic ecotoxicity and terrestrial ecotoxicity potential from healthcare waste management. Conducting a preliminary life cycle assessment study based on the present waste management scenarios in Bangladesh is very tough task. In contrary, there is a good prospect to conduct life cycle assessment study if appropriate implementation of the laws and technical supports can be ensured. It was found that open burning and incineration of healthcare waste mainly contributed to the global warming and human toxicity potential. Disposal of healthcare waste by dumping (landfilling) mainly contributed to the freshwater aquatic ecotoxicity and terrestrial ecotoxicity potential. The proposed scenario demonstrated remarkable lower impacts for each category than the private and local government healthcare waste management systems.

Application of healthcare waste indicators for assessing infectious waste management in Bolivia.

In the developing world, healthcare waste management is a human health and environmental burden that should be solved for improving sustainability. Solutions should be introduced in the short term, concerning management, planning, financial assistance and expertise. The paper introduces an indicator set for assessing healthcare waste management in developing cities, implemented in La Paz (Bolivia) as a case study. The objective is to suggest an integrated management tool as a first assessment technique to identify the prevailing problems with a healthcare waste management system. Results suggest that, in La Paz, the application of such indicators is useful for evaluating which priorities should be addressed for improving the healthcare waste management system. The tool was applied for introducing a study necessary for the application of new management plans, especially concerning healthcare waste treatment. The method can be replicated in other contexts worldwide, with a focus on the developing world, for comparing cities, management solutions and improvements carried out along the years. The approach is of interest for boosting sustainability and human health, improving the awareness of the actors and policy-makers involved in waste management.

Diagnosis of the health care waste management system of hospitals in the west of Santa Catarina State-Brazil

The management of health solid waste is seen as an emerging and urgent need in Brazil.

Management of solid healthcare wastes in some government healthcare facilities in Enugu state, Southeast Nigeria: a cross-sectional study

Background: The significance of healthcare wastes (HCWs) consists in their hazardous component, which constitutes real danger to public health. In Nigeria, healthcare waste management (HCWM) has remained a problem yet to be properly recognized and so addressed. The study aimed to sensitise health workers and the public on the need for proper management of HCWs, considering the public health implications of not doing so.Methods: The waste management systems of ten healthcare facilities (HCFs) were assessed, using a modification of the WHO rapid assessment tool. In each HCF, segregated wastes were collected daily for ten days and quantified by weighing, using a spring balance.Results: Administratively, the HCWM system was poor in the ten HCFs (40.6%). 70% of them had satisfactory waste segregation, 81%, good waste treatment, and 26.7% adequate transportation methods for waste. None of the HCFs had budget allocation for HCWM, and 90% had inadequate storage facilities. Mean waste generation was 1.81 kg/day, 0.23 kg/patient/day, 0.16 kg/bed/day, and proportion of infectious wastes 16.8%. Correlation between the number of patients and proportion of infectious waste, was positive, strong and significant (r=0.80, p=0.01), and between bed occupancy rate and proportion of infectious waste, was positive too, but weak, and insignificant (r=0.34, p=0.34).Conclusions: In view of the identified weaknesses of the ten HCFs in HCWM, budget allocations for HCWM, improving waste storage facilities and transportation, with strengthening of waste segregation, collection, and treatment, would help to ensure adequate HCWM in the HCFs.

Healthcare Waste Management: The Current Issue in Menellik II Referral Hospital, Ethiopia

Healthcare wastes generated in Hospitals from medical activities have not given sufficient attention. In developing countries, healthcare wastes are still handled and disposed indiscriminately creating an immense threat to the public health and the environment. This situation is much worse in Ethiopia where there is paucity of convincing evidence about healthcare waste generation rate and management system. A crossectional study was conducted in Menellik II hospital to evaluate the healthcare waste management system. Primary data on the healthcare waste management system was collected using observational checklist. Key informant interview guide was also employed on 11 selected informants to assess waste management practice and analyzed by thematic framework. The results revealed that there was no segregation of healthcare waste by type at the point of generation and disinfection of infectious waste before disposal. The main HCW treatment and disposal mechanism was incineration using low temperature, single chamber incinerator; open burning; burring in to amputation pit and open dumping on municipal dumping site as well as on the hospital back yard. Furthermore, there was negligence, attitudinal problem and low level of awareness about safe healthcare waste management. To diminish the risk of healthcare waste on public health and environment, a cost effective interventions include providing better medical waste management facilities, adherence to national regulatory and rising awareness of all concerned need to adopt in the hospital.

Healthcare waste management: an interpretive structural modeling approach.

Purpose - The World Health Organization identified infectious healthcare waste as a threat to the environment and human health. India's current medical waste management system has limitations, which lead to ineffective and inefficient waste handling practices. Hence, the purpose of this paper is to: first, identify the important barriers that hinder India's healthcare waste management (HCWM) systems; second, classify operational, tactical and strategical issues to discuss the managerial implications at different management levels; and third, define all barriers into four quadrants depending upon their driving and dependence power. Design/methodology/approach - India's HCWM system barriers were identified through the literature, field surveys and brainstorming sessions. Interrelationships among all the barriers were analyzed using interpretive structural modeling (ISM). Fuzzy-Matrice d'Impacts Croisés Multiplication Appliquée á un Classement (MICMAC) analysis was used to classify HCWM barriers into four groups. Findings - In total, 25 HCWM system barriers were identified and placed in 12 different ISM model hierarchy levels. Fuzzy-MICMAC analysis placed eight barriers in the second quadrant, five in third and 12 in fourth quadrant to define their relative ISM model importance. Research limitations/implications - The study's main limitation is that all the barriers were identified through a field survey and barnstorming sessions conducted only in Uttarakhand, Northern State, India. The problems in implementing HCWM practices may differ with the region, hence, the current study needs to be replicated in different Indian states to define the waste disposal strategies for hospitals. Practical implications - The model will help hospital managers and Pollution Control Boards, to plan their resources accordingly and make policies, targeting key performance areas. Originality/value - The study is the first attempt to identify India's HCWM system barriers and prioritize them.

Developing a Novel, Sustainable and Beneficial System for the Systematic Management of Hospital Wastes.

India is the 2nd most populated country in the world. Population of India is increasing at a tremendous rate. Proportionately, the numbers of people seeking health care are increasing. In that ratio the quantities of hospital wastes, in wider terms, healthcare wastes that are getting generated is also increasing. Current methods for the safe disposal of healthcare wastes are not able to cope up with the rate of generation of healthcare wastes and moreover are not eco-friendly at all. Due to this, the current rules and regulations regarding the safe disposal of healthcare wastes are getting violated, ultimately leading to improper management of healthcare wastes, posing a serious threat to the environment and to the community. To develop a novel, sustainable and beneficial system for the systematic management of healthcare wastes utilizing the strategies of waste reduction, waste segregation and recycling of Non Hazardous Hospital Wastes (NHHWs). Firstly a detailed study of the Healthcare Waste Management System (HCWMS) operational at the Jaslok Hospital and Research Centre was done. A pilot study was then performed. After that, data regarding the generation and management of healthcare wastes in the other healthcare settings was collected and analyzed. Considering all this, a novel, sustainable and beneficial template system for the systematic management of healthcare wastes was proposed. Lastly the possible positive impacts from the implementation of HCWMSs designed using proposed template HCWMS in significant numbers of healthcare establishments was gauged. The healthcare waste management system operational at the Jaslok Hospital and Research Centre was found to be very efficient and provided vital inputs about developing the novel HCWMS. The pilot study was successfully completed generating significant revenue from the hospital's own NHHWs while managing them in an eco-friendly way. The total healthcare waste generation in Maharashtra was approximately estimated at about 2,89,200kg/day of which about 43,380kg/day was Bio-Medical Wastes (BMWs) while about 2,45,820kg/day were the NHHWs. This stresses the need of implementing HCWMSs in Healthcare Establishments (HCEs) based on the proposed novel template of HCWMS. The novel template system is proposed in a detailed manner under various heads in the form of a handbook which is scalable upwards or downwards as per the requirement of a HCE. The enormous economic and environmental positive impacts from the implementation of the HCWMSs based on the proposed HCWMS in significant numbers of HCEs were presented numerically, putting light on the necessity and tremendous potential of this field of research.