Economic evaluation of hazardous healthcare waste treatment systems

Abstract

The cost estimation and assessment of healthcare waste treatment systems (HCWTSs) for preventing financial and environmental damage are essential. This work reports economic analyses of treatment of hazardous–infectious waste based on WHO approach in HCWTSS of 43 hospitals in Tehran, Iran. The waste generation rate for total hospital waste in 43 HCWTSS was 4.42 ± 2.77 kg/active-bed/day. The mean of chemical, sharps, infectious, and general wastes in 43 HCWTSS were 13.79 ± 19.71, 30.29 ± 37.46, 336.28 ± 291.31, and 539.6 ± 383.13 kg/day, respectively. Economic analyses proved that general hospitals spent 1.63 times more than specialized hospitals on treating hazardous–infectious waste per year. The annual cost of treating each kilogram of hazardous healthcare waste in studied HCWTSS was 0.3 dollars. A range of total annual costs in 43 HCWTSS was limited to 7.9–118 thousand dollars. The results of ANOVA test demonstrated that the age and performance levels of hospitals significantly affect the annual capital and operating costs, respectively. Hence, improving recycling knowledge and increasing source-separated recycling should be considered to control the costs in HCWTSS. The results of this work have implications for the hospital managers in especially developing countries to evaluate previously unknown economic analyses and policies and take action to control wasted costs in HCWTSS.