Economic Evaluation of Thermal Treatment Technologies for Infectious Hospital Waste Management

The increasing volume of healthcare waste and the significant proportion of infectious and sharps waste in hospitals have necessitated economic evaluation of treatment systems as a critical component of sustainable hospital waste management. This study aimed to conduct a comprehensive economic analysis of thermal treatment systems for infectious waste in Tehran's hospitals. This descriptive-analytical cross-sectional study extracted data from ۳۱ hospitals with thermal technologies among ۴۳ hospitals examined. Using a researcher-designed questionnaire based on World Health Organization guidelines, data were collected on waste segregation, quantification, and facility characteristics. Capital and operating costs were calculated and annualized. Results showed mean daily generation rates of general waste, infectious waste, sharps waste, and pharmaceutical waste were ۵۹۸.۹, ۳۸۸.۷, ۳۵.۸, and ۱۶.۴ kg respectively. Infectious-hazardous waste comprised ۴۱% of total hospital waste stream. Total annual system cost was estimated at ۱۲,۴۸۹,۲۶۷,۱۶۵ tomans, with operating costs accounting for ۹۲.۹% and capital costs for ۷.۱%. Collection and transport phase contributed ۶۷.۷% of total costs, with personnel salaries (۲۸.۶%), infectious waste bags (۱۵.۳%), and sharps containers (۱۱%) being primary cost drivers. Production of infectious waste, personnel numbers, device cycles, and supply consumption showed positive and significant correlations with total annual costs. Effective cost control should be achieved through proper waste segregation at source, standardization of supply consumption, personnel training, performance monitoring, and equipment capacity optimization. Overall, this study demonstrates that thermal treatment is fundamentally a management and operational challenge rather than a purely technological one, with success depending primarily on upstream waste management practices.

Keywords:

infectious waste , thermal treatment , economic analysis , operating costs , hospital waste