Assessing the sustainable health-care waste disposal techniques using a hybrid interval-valued intuitionistic fuzzy operational competitiveness rating model

Journal Article

2026

Published in: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10098-026-03533-5

Health-care waste (HCW) comprises potentially harmful microorganisms that can infect medical professionals, hospital
patients and the general public. The management and treatment of HCW are of great concern due to its potential risk to the
society and environment. At the present time, several techniques are available for the treatment of HCW materials. Each
technique has its own advantages and disadvantages in terms of continuing effects on the human health and environment.
On the other hand, uncertainty is widely associated with the real-life HCW disposal techniques assessment problem. This
work aims to develop a hybrid decision-making model for assessing the HCW disposal techniques from uncertainty and
sustainability perspectives. In this model, an integrated weighting tool using the symmetry point of criterion (SPC) and pivot
pairwise relative criteria importance assessment (PIPRECIA) models is presented to prioritize the importance of considered
indicators under interval-valued intuitionistic fuzzy (IVIF) environment. To this aim, a new interval-valued intuitionistic
fuzzy score function is proposed with its effectiveness over existing ones. Further, a combined operational competitiveness
rating (OCRA) approach, named as IVIF-SPC-PIPRECIA-OCRA, is presented to evaluate the health-care waste disposal
techniques. To confirm the applicability and usefulness of introduced model, it is applied to a case study of HCW disposal
techniques assessment, wherein the information is given in terms of interval-valued intuitionistic fuzzy numbers. This
study identifies the criteria/indicators through comprehensive survey and then determines the most suitable HCW disposal
technique using the proposed approach by means of socio-technical and triple bottom line theories. The results indicate
that Emission, Annual operating cost, Waste residuals and Environmental impact are the most effective sustainable factors
and Plasma arc technology is the most suitable technique for the disposal of health-care waste. Sensitivity and comparative
analyses are performed to check the consistency, robustness and efficiency of introduced IVIF-SPC-PIPRECIA-OCRA
model. The obtained results support the policymakers to set up a systematic tool for choosing the most suitable HCW disposal
technique from sustainability points of view.

• Publisher Name: SPRINGER
• Publishing City: USA
• Volume Number: 28
• Issue Number: 7
• Magazine \ Newspaper: Clean Technologies and Environmental Policy
• Pages: 1 to 27