Advances in medical plastic waste treatment methods towards sustainable development

The rapid expansion of healthcare services has led to a substantial increase in medical plastic waste (MPW), posing significant environmental and public health challenges and highlighting the need for sustainable waste management strategies. The present review provides a comprehensive overview of recent advances in MPW treatment and valorization strategies for sustainable development. Previous reviews have primarily focused on general biomedical waste management or individual treatment technologies. This review critically examines MPW, its classification, major medical polymers, environmental impacts, conventional and advanced treatment technologies, their comparative assessment, emerging recycling approaches, derived value-added products and their characterization, challenges and their potential solutions, and future prospects for sustainable MPW management. Conventional and advanced treatment methods are evaluated with respect to their treatment efficiency, environmental impacts, resource-recovery potential, and limitations. The analysis demonstrates that no single treatment technology is universally suitable for heterogeneous MPW rather, the appropriate pathway depends on polymer composition, contamination level, treatment objective, resource-recovery potential, environmental and economic considerations. Emerging approaches such as catalytic recycling, enzymatic depolymerization and artificial intelligence assisted waste management further expand opportunities for selective recovery. This review also highlights the conversion of MPW into fuels, syngas, carbon-based materials, construction materials, acoustic panels, and composite fillers. Overall, integrated polymer-specific treatment and valorization pathways supported by life cycle and techno-economic assessment are essential for transitioning MPW from conventional disposal toward resource recovery and a circular healthcare system. Graphical Abstract