While comprehensive data have yet to be compiled on the overall impact of health-care waste, the World Health Organization describes it as an urgent problem in Asia. Other hospitals invest in expensive imported incinerators yet fail to train their technicians to minimize the dioxins that can spew out and pollute the air. Properly operating it is another. Japan, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand were at the forefront in the early 1990s. Malaysia has a centralized waste-treatment facility on the peninsula and individual disposal systems for more remote hospitals in Borneo.
Incineration is the most widely used method worldwide.
But other technologies are available, each with its own advantages and disadvantages. Both chemical disinfection and steam disinfection require a preliminary step of shredding the hospital waste. The most expensive option is microwave treatment, which destroys infectious waste through heat conduction. However, it's not yet recommended for developing countries due to potential maintenance problems. Financing these disposal systems, which can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, isn't easy for less wealthy nations.