Striving for Sustainability in Healthcare Management: Waste Handling and Disposal Network Optimization

Manoj Govind Kharat, Shreyanshu Parhi (), Samridhi Kapoor, Mukesh Govind Kharat and Shatrudhan Pandey
Additional contact information
Manoj Govind Kharat: Sinhgad Institute of Business Management
Shreyanshu Parhi: International Management Institute– Bhubaneswar
Samridhi Kapoor: Central University of Karnataka
Mukesh Govind Kharat: K J Somaiya Institute of Management
Shatrudhan Pandey: Marwadi University

Circular Economy and Sustainability, 2025, vol. 5, issue 1, 413-439

Abstract: Abstract Bio-medical waste (BMW) is infectious and hazardous, and therefore is harmful to the environment and human beings. It is a matter of concern that most of the healthcare facilities are not disposing of the BMW as per the stipulated guidelines. The significant reasons identified for inefficient BMW disposal are the high costs and capacity constraints of the treatment facilities. The BMW handling and disposal rules vary from country to country, and presently, limited studies have attempted to optimize a BMW handling and disposal network from developing nation’s perspective. The present study develops a cost optimization model for handling and disposal of BMW. The nodes considered in this model include common BMW treatment facilities, energy recovery and recycling facilities, concrete and iron foundry transfer points, hazardous waste treatment facilities, and scrap dealers. An illustrative example is presented for understanding the utility and application of the problem solved. The model and the suggested recommendations will be highly useful to the healthcare facilities and BMW management policymakers. The model may be used to fix the charges for the various BMW handling and disposal activities and manage the capacity of the treatment plants in a scientific manner. The findings of the study are expected to encourage participation from the healthcare facilities in making the BMW management more efficient.

Keywords: Sustainability; Circular economic approach; Bio-medical waste; Hazardous; Healthcare; Network route optimization; Handling & disposal; Treatment technology (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s43615-024-00435-w Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:circec:v:5:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1007_s43615-024-00435-w

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.springer.com/journal/43615

DOI: 10.1007/s43615-024-00435-w

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Circular Economy and Sustainability from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().