Transforming Waste Management from Incineration to Resource Recovery in the UK

Abstract

Sustainable waste management is central to the UK’s transition to the circular economy and to decarbonising healthcare supply chains. Within the NHS, high-temperature incineration remains a carbon- and cost-intensive route, often driven by over-classification of non-hazardous materials and limited segregation capacity. Furthermore, autoclaving of hospital waste adds a layer of carbon intensity to Scope 3 emissions of hospitals. This study evaluates a practical circular pathway that diverts selected non-hazardous consumables from incineration to segregation, validated sterilisation, and repurposing as a possible sustainable secondary input for engineering applications. Using an integrated sustainability framework, the paper combines policy analysis, process mapping, and scenario-based treatment-stage carbon and cost comparison of the baseline incineration pathway and the segregate–sterilise–repurpose pathway. The assessment is aligned with national targets to achieve a 20:20:60 split (HTI clinical waste: infectious waste: offensive waste) and tests how improved segregation and reclassification of suitable non-hazardous streams from healthcare codes (e.g., EWC 18 01 04 to 20 03 01) can reduce treatment-related carbon emissions and enable higher-value recovery. This proposed solution could support reductions in treatment-stage e emissions and disposal costs, while allowing higher-value recovery through better management and segregation of healthcare waste.

Keywords: waste materials, UK zero waste, circular economy, resource recovery, waste management, healthcare waste