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Sustainability is an issue for both healthcare and social care organisations. Understanding the similarities and differences between healthcare and social care waste compositions, especially the amounts of potentially recyclable waste, can help target waste reduction strategies more effectively. A waste audit was undertaken at four health and social care sites in the South West of England. A comparison was made between the waste compositions of healthcare clinical and domestic waste streams and those of social care sites. Over a three-month period, 115 bags of waste (69 clinical and 46 domestic waste bags) were weighed and the contents catalogued. A greater number of items and unique item types were found on average at the healthcare site in comparison to the social care sites. The domestic waste streams at all four sites contained high proportions of potentially recyclable wastes. The clinical waste stream of the healthcare site also contained the highest proportion of potentially recyclable waste (66%). The differences in the amounts of potentially recyclable waste between the four study sites demonstrate the importance of understanding the composition of the different waste streams to inform the design of effective and impactful interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports an investigation intended to obtain some understanding of how the working environment might influence the practice and knowledge of those involved in the management of healthcare waste. The National Health Service (NHS) has a continuing waste problem, and the way it manages waste harms the environment and consumes resources. It has been estimated that the carbon footprint of the NHS in England is approximately 20 million tons of CO2e. It has been suggested that better waste segregation could lead to more effective recycling, saving up to 42,000 tonnes of CO2. This qualitative study employed nonparticipant observation and semi-structured interviews. The interviews were carried out with the key informants within the participating neonatal intensive care unit. Findings from this study indicate that space and the physical arrangement of the environment are significant and influential factors in clinical practice. Where the clinical environment is not supportive, poor infection control and waste management practice is likely to occur. However, proximity of staff caused by a lack of physical space might facilitate situated learning and a collective development of knowledge in practice. The implementation of sustainable waste management practices would be more likely to succeed in an environment that facilitates correct waste segregation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]