[Alternative technologies on infectious waste treatment, and guidelines for evaluation on safety and efficacy of the alternative technologies].

Recently, regulations on incinerators have been tightened, the number of incinerators in medical facilities has hastily decreased. Under these circumstances, alternative technologies for medical waste treatments that can be substituted for incinerators have received considerable attention. Many alternative technologies for treating medical wastes have already been installed in many facilities in advanced nations such as United States of America, Europe and Australia. Appropriate guidelines are essential for safe treatment of medical wastes, and hence some guidelines for evaluation of the safety and efficacy of the alternative technologies have been established in advanced nations including Japan. In this chapter, a summary of alternative technologies, recent regulations worldwide on the technology and an outline of the guidelines are described.