IIT Bombay Conducts Research On Circular Economic Model For Healthcare Waste Management
IIT Bombay conducted a study to identify factors essential for the successful adoption of a circular economy model for healthcare waste management in India. Dr. Anuj Dixit and Prof. Pankaj Dutta from the Shailesh J. Mehta School of Management, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT Bombay) carried out the study to identify the key factors for effective implementation of the circular economy model for healthcare waste management. Their research was published in the journal Clean Technologies and Environmental Policy.
In India, the safe disposal of healthcare waste is a challenge due to a lack of special methods and technologies, public awareness, lack of professional training, and required funds for training. A ‘reduce-reuse-recycle’ approach, termed a circular economy model, helps to avoid and mitigate pollution and environmental damage under the process. The approach is not explored enough in the healthcare sector.
The IIT Bombay researcher team studied earlier research on healthcare, medical devices, stainless-steel surgical instruments, plastic healthcare products, and biomedical waste conducted globally. Most of these were qualitative studies. “Various existing qualitative studies recommended the need for quantitative research within the healthcare sector to gain more insights into adopting circular economy in the domain,” explained Dr. Anuj Dixit while highlighting the need for analytical studies.
The researchers collected data about how the participants of the survey rate the importance of various factors such as awareness and training about waste management, budget, use of technology, waste segregation/collection, and responsibilities of various stakeholders among others. “Our major challenge was to select appropriate health organizations according to their type and nature of healthcare waste,” Prof. Pankaj Dutta reported.
The researchers used a combination of well-established statistical techniques called ANOVA, F- DEMATEL, and ISM, which gave qualitative as well as quantitative insights. A combination of these methods helps prioritize contributing factors in a system, provides actionable insights, and helps decision-making in the face of uncertainty. The researchers believe that the conclusions drawn from this study offer a deeper, more structured, and analytically rigorous understanding of complex systems compared to simple surveys.
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They identified 17 relevant and adequate factors called ‘critical success factors’ (CSFs) under five broad areas of impact—research and development, education and social behavior, economic facets, responsibility, and tracking mechanism—called ‘implication dimensions’, critical to the success of a circular economy model in healthcare waste management. The CSFs denote the actual activities to which the efforts can be allocated, and they include factors related to estimation, design, training, awareness, budget, responsibility, and transparency to name a few.
Based on their analysis, the researchers further categorized the CSFs as causal and effect factors to offer better direction in planning for the implementation. Twelve CSFs were identified in the causal group, while the remaining five were in the effect group. The identified factors were also ranked depending on their impact intensity which can help in prioritising effort allocation during policy making.
Factors such as ‘government’s responsibility’ and ‘stakeholders’ participation’ were found to have the highest driving potential, whereas ‘segregation and collection’, though considered critical, were found to depend on other causal CSFs. ‘Information visibility and transparency’, ‘manufacturer/corporate responsibility’, ‘training and empowerment’, and ‘budget allocation’ were the factors found to impact healthcare waste management the most.
Considering case-specific implication dimensions based on the goals of the policies, the efforts can be focused on the required factors. The research findings can help policymakers and Government bodies to create practical and feasible plans to enhance the success of the ongoing efforts for sustainable healthcare waste management.
The researchers believe that although the results obtained are specific to India, they can be useful for other developing economies as well. Including more experts and policymakers in the survey can broaden and strengthen the results.
“It is also important that when the circular economy model reaches a satisfactory level of success, the critical success factors must be re-evaluated,” concludes Prof. Pankaj Dutta.
