Strategic Approaches to Waste and Resource Management for Environmental Sustainability During Crisis

Abstract

Waste management and disposal in developing countries are affected by poor infrastructure, lagging technological development, and challenges in organisational management and training leading to negative environmental health impacts. During crises like the recent pandemic of COVID-19, increasing volumes of biomedical waste necessitated hospital management to restructure waste and resource management practices alongside addressing the pressing health needs of patients. This paper examines how hospitals in India realigned and reorganised their waste management practices during the COVID-19 pandemic to maintain the quality of the natural environment in the context of the healthcare crisis. Using a qualitative analysis of 28 interviews collected with health practitioners, this paper explains how hospitals engaged in strategies of retrenchment, preservation, innovation, and resource realignment that enabled medical practitioners to manage the scarcity of resources, staff deficiencies, and increased service demand.

Keywords: Healthcare waste, Waste management, sustainability, Crisis, Resource Realignment