Role of Supply Chain in Medical Waste Management
The supply chain plays a critical role in reducing waste. Medical waste production is increasing rapidly, which can pose a serious threat to both humans and the environment if it is not managed properly. Designing an efficient and reliable medical waste reverse supply chain (MWRSC) is highly beneficial for the society. Most studies on this issue have only considered waste generated and have not reported uncertainty in the amount of medical waste generation and other MWRSC parameters. Sustainability criteria and environmental issues are rarely considered in choosing treatment technology. However, In public health supply chain management, the goal is to repeat this process for the right price, the right quantity of the right products, the right place at the right time and to prevent stockout.
The staggering amount of medical waste generated on an everyday basis is necessary to be disposed of appropriately. The environmental effects of discarding these wastes can lead to causing serious effects due to the byproducts and toxicity achieved as a result of the conventional methods used to dispose of the waste. One of the efficient ways that are yet not explored to its best is recycling medical waste. The recycled waste does not go to the landfill for incineration or other disposal techniques leading to a reduction in the intensity of pollution. Mixed plastic waste that is non-regulated represents a significant portion of the solid waste materials generated by healthcare organizations.
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Companies Profiles of the Medical Waste Management
Ø Medasend Biomedical, Inc.
Ø Bondtech Corporation
Ø Sharps Compliance, Inc.
Ø Veolia
Ø Clean Harbors, Inc.
Ø Daniels Sharpsmart, Inc.
Ø Stericycle
Ø REMONDIS SE & Co. KG
Ø Republic Services, Inc.
Ø Waste Management, Inc.
Decision-makers and service providers offering solutions to medical waste management undertaking effective steps towards choosing an appropriate method for disposal of these solids can help to contribute positively to the growing environment burden. Moreover, these steps will lead to increasing adoption of recycling technologies fostering research and development to build sustainable techniques for waste management.
With modern medicine continuing to maintain and sustain the current quality of wellness and care standards, the medical industry continues to produce an enormous amount of byproducts that can pose an adverse threat to both people and environment. Healthcare waste has witnessed comparatively lower attention in developing economies that have led to increasing diseases occurring due to side-effects of these waste products. According to the World Health Organization, an estimated 16 billion injections are administered across the globe in 2018, however not all the sharps and needles and disposed of orderly after their use.
According to a report published by biomedical Waste Solutions, 5.9 million tons of medical waste was produced by American hospitals in 2018. Furthermore, in emerging economies such as India that has high-tech medical facilities and is one of the most common destinations for medical tourism also has a humongous amount of hospital waste generated in the country. For instance, according to the General Health Services India, the country generates approximately 550.9 tons of medical waste on a regular basis and is expected to produce775.5 tons of waste by 2022.