Clinical Waste Incineration
Clinical Waste Incinerators primarily treat Healthcare Wastes at high temperature to ensure the destruction of micro-organisms, medicines and other human and animal tissues containing hazardous substances.
Whilst these facilities could be considered High Temperature Incinerators, this category is separately listed in WikiWaste with a primary focus on Chemical Wastes (although they do destroy some Healthcare Wastes). Residual Waste EfW facilities are able to incinerate lower-risk Healthcare Waste and this route has increased dramatically since 2018/19.
In tandem with greater tonnage being diverted to Residual Waste EfW, greater tonnage has also been diverted to Autoclave, Microwave and other specialist treatment facilities for Healthcare Wastes over recent years [1]. This type of infrastructure provides the overview of Clinical Waste Incineration EfW facilities for the UK, linking to individual pages for each facility that provides greater detail.
Overview
Clinical Waste Incinerators are, on the whole, historical hospital incinerators, some of which provide heat to the neighbouring hospital, but their primary focus is at the bottom of the waste hierarchy destroying Healthcare Waste. Pet Crematoriums are excluded from the WikiWaste listings as are USE and HSE sites at the present time which may incinerate very small tonnages.
In WikiWaste, Clinical Waste Incineration is treated as a distinct infrastructure type within the wider Incineration & EfW category. This page provides a structured view across the national fleet and connects through to individual facility pages and Local Authority disposal routes.
Parameters
| Stats.[1] | Units/Year | |
|---|---|---|---|
Number of Operational Facilities | 16 | number (2024) | |
Operational Plated Capacity | 125 | '000 tonnes (2024) | |
Tonnes Received | 81 | '000 tonnes (2024) | |
Tonnes Combusted | 72 | '000 tonnes (2024) |
Clinical Waste Incineration Capacity
Notes/Assumptions
- Clinical Waste incinerated in HTI facilites (including new HTI facilities in construction) is not included
- Hillingdon comes back on line in 2025, although indications are this may not occur
- Malvern comes back into operation in 2025 and Derriford in 2026
- Scotia remains mothballed, and at present the 2 sites in planning do not come into construction
- Ratio of combustion to received continues with no improved effieincy - no operational sites are assumed to be refurbished/closed in the period
Clinical Waste Incinerator Map
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Clinical Waste Incinerators
References:
- Operator Annual Reports
