Advice and Guidelines

General Documents

These documents cover the subject broadly, but may lack in detail.

See Specific Documents, later in this section, for SOPs, audit checklists and task lists which cover areas in more details.

GGHH Waste Guidance Document

WasteCoverAccessible to members of the HCWH’s Global Green and Healthy Hospitals network , the GGHH Waste Guidance document sets out ways to meet the target of reducing, managing and treating waste in the most sustainable way considering that the different situations found in different countries will mean there is no perfect solution that will suit all circumstances.  For more information about how to join GGHH, click here. 

WHO Blue Book 

Image result for who blue book waste“Blue Book” is the World Health Organization’s guidelines on the safe management of healthcare waste. Although it has global application, it is particularly important in low to middle income countries where the infrastructure and national guidelines might not be fully developed.  The current edition, published in 2014, was written by a large group of internationally recognised experts, including HCWH staff. An abridged version was published in 2017 and is available in English, Russian and French.  
Chartier et al. (2014) Safe management of wastes from health-care activities, second edition.  http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/10665/85349/1/9789241548564_eng.pdf

  1. WHO (2017) Safe management of wastes from health-care activities: A summary.  http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/publications/safe-management-of-waste-summary/en/
  2. Mainstreaming Environmental Management in the Health Care Sector: This document,
    produced by the World Bank, is focused on India but  has much information that
    will be useful to waste managers everywhere. World Bank (2012) Mainstreaming environmental management in the health care sector: Implementation experience in India and a tool-kit for managers. Vol I & II.  Publ: World Bank, Washington DC, 151pp.
  3. Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions through Recycling and Composting (2011): This document demonstrates how the U.S. EPA’s Waste Reduction Model (WARM) Calculator can be used to estimate greenhouse gas emissions from recycling diverse materials.  https://journals.lib.washington.edu/index.php/ltj/article/viewFile/12257/10804

Specific documents: guidances, SOPs, checklists, task lists

Guidances, SOPs, checklists, task lists

Centres for Disease Control (CDC) documents

These documents were created with funding from the US Centres for Disease Control