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

Ozkan A.

WASTE MANAGEMENT & RESEARCH, cilt.31, sa.2, ss.141-149, 2013 (SCI-Expanded) identifier identifier identifier

  • Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
  • Cilt numarası: 31 Sayı: 2
  • Basım Tarihi: 2013
  • Doi Numarası: 10.1177/0734242x12471578
  • Dergi Adı: WASTE MANAGEMENT & RESEARCH
  • Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Scopus
  • Sayfa Sayıları: ss.141-149
  • Anahtar Kelimeler: Healthcare waste management, off-site sterilization, multi-criteria decision-making, analytic network process (ANP), ELECTRE III, MEDICAL WASTE, HIERARCHY PROCESS, MANAGEMENT, DISPOSAL
  • Anadolu Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

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.