Healthcare facilities generate over 73,000 tons of medical waste each year. Much of the waste that hospitals produce, including hypodermic needles, body parts and fluids, diapers, laboratory cultures, etc., is infectious and potentially dangerous. Many hospitals feel it is safer to burn this waste, rendering it harmless, rather than to bury it in landfills. When burned, hospital waste and medical/infectious waste emit various air pollutants, including hydrochloric acid, dioxin/furan and toxic metals (lead, cadmium and mercury).