Achieving cost and carbon savings in neonatal practice: A review of the literature on sustainable waste management

Abstract

Sustainable waste management in neonatal and high dependency care areas has not been given sufficient priority or consideration according to literature. As a consequence research is lacking in identifying waste that may be recyclable or reduced, generating income that could be reinvested in patient care. The key aim of this paper is to explore and report on the systematic review of the literature, which discloses waste management practice within neonatal and high dependency care areas, which may identify waste with subsequent environmental impacts. Exclusion criteria, inclusion criteria and search by terms methodologies were used to carry the systematic review essential for the study. The research findings suggest that there is little published material on waste management within neonatology or other high dependency and resource dependent clinical areas. This lack of published material could be seen as an indication that this is a relatively unexplored area of clinical practice that provides an opportunity for further empirical research and development of interventions within highly resource dependent areas such as neonatal intensive care that are intended to reduce waste costs and carbon emissions whilst promoting a sustainable reduce, re-use, recycle philosophy within healthcare waste management.