Selection of Medical Waste Disposal Method for a University Hospital Using Hybrid Multi-Criteria Decision-Making Methods: A Case Study in Adana Province, Turkey

The global expansion of healthcare services has made medical waste management an increasingly critical and complex issue. Medical wastes require specialized management due to their high infection risk, potential for environmental pollution, and adverse effects on public health. The correct collection, transportation, and final disposal are vital for protecting environmental health and ensuring the safety of hospital personnel and the community. Numerous disposal methods exist. Selecting the appropriate one, however, is a multi-dimensional decision-making problem, necessitating the simultaneous evaluation of various conflicting criteria. Adana, one of Turkey’s largest provinces, generates significant medical waste volumes due to its dense population and developed health infrastructure. Therefore, choosing the most suitable disposal method for hospitals in Adana is crucial for establishing an effective and sustainable waste management system. Making this decision using traditional methods is difficult. The multitude of criteria prevents any single method from being optimal across all aspects. This complexity mandates the use of Multi-Criteria Decision-Making (MCDM) methodologies. In this study, MCDM methods were applied, based on expert opinions, to select the disposal method at a university hospital in Adana. The research examined twelve criteria and four alternatives. The CRITIC (Criteria Importance Through Intercriteria Correlation) method was employed to objectively weigh the criteria. For the rigorous evaluation and ranking of the alternatives, three robust MCDM methods were utilized: PROMETHEE (Preference Ranking Organization Method for Enrichment Evaluation), TOPSIS (Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution), and EDAS (Evaluation based on Distance from Average Solution). The final results conclusively identified incineration as the most appropriate disposal method for the hospital.