Evaluation of healthcare waste treatment/disposal alternatives by using multi-criteria decision-making techniques

Healthcare waste should be managed carefully because of infected, pathological, etc. content especially in developing countries. Applied management systems must be the most appropriate solution from a technical, environmental, economic and social point of view. The main objective of this study was t...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Waste management & research 2013-02, Vol.31 (2), p.141-149
Main Author: Oezkan, Aysun
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Decision making
Decision Support Techniques
Developing countries
Environmental management
Incineration - methods
LDCs
Medical Waste Disposal - economics
Medical Waste Disposal - methods
Medical wastes
Microwaves
Multiple criteria decision making
Sterilization
Studies
Turkey
Waste disposal
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Summary:Healthcare waste should be managed carefully because of infected, pathological, etc. content especially in developing countries. Applied management systems must be the most appropriate solution from a technical, environmental, economic and social point of view. The main objective of this study was to analyse the current status of healthcare waste management in Turkey, and to investigate the most appropriate treatment/disposal option by using different decision-making techniques. For this purpose, five different healthcare waste treatment/disposal alternatives including incineration, microwaving, on-site sterilization, off-site sterilization and landfill were evaluated according to two multi-criteria decision-making techniques: analytic network process (ANP) and ELECTRE. In this context, benefits, costs and risks for the alternatives were taken into consideration. Furthermore, the prioritization and ranking of the alternatives were determined and compared for both methods. According to the comparisons, the off-site sterilization technique was found to be the most appropriate solution in both cases.
ISSN:0734-242X
1096-3669
DOI:10.1177/0734242X12471578