Review of Waste Management Practices in the Healthcare Sector of Nova Scotia

Abstract

In 2014, Capital District Health Authority amalgamated with the other health authorities across the province to become the Nova Scotia Health Authority. Since then, the NSHA has been disposing of their waste based on hospital standard operating procedure. New common waste policies have yet to be put into place. The focus of the new policies should shift from the recycling of waste to the reduction of waste. The waste policies should be introduced to hospital staff using teaching modules. In this report, a case study was performed on the diversion and recycling of expanded and extruded polystyrene foam. The study determined the estimated costs of collecting the foam from the hospitals in Halifax and sending the waste stream to a local vendor. The scope of the case study was then extended to a preliminary analysis of Styrofoam collection and diversion in the HRM through densification.