Local Incineration Fights

Grassroots groups around the world are fighting polluting medical waste incinerators and winning. There is a clear global trend to close medical waste incinerators and replace them with safer, non-dioxin producing technologies.

In the United States, more than 5,000 medical waste incinerators were in operation in the mid 1990s. Today, less than 100 medical waste incinerators remain in the U.S., due to community pressure, stricter pollution-control regulations, and activist groups such as Health Care Without Harm.

Here are some examples of recent victories to close down medical waste incinerators:

• Last major medical waste incinerator in Michigan to close
• Chicago Tribune Editorial: Snuffing the last incinerators
• Illinois Gov. calls on state's medical incinerators to close
• Millions vaccinated in Phillippines with no syringes burned
• Ireland to treat all medical waste with non-incineration technologies
• St. Louis mayor signs bill to stop medwaste incineration
• Controversial incinerator in Gila River Indian Community Reservation closed
• Last medical waste incinerator in California closed

Stericycle, the largest medical waste handler in the United States, still operates several large incinerators.

See Stericycle Watch for more details. HCWH is also working to ensure that polluting incineration technology is not sent to developing countries. For more information on the global fight against incineration, see our Global Projects.