Hyderabad, Sept. 22: Sidelining the concerns over the health effects of dioxin and furan emissions into the atmosphere from incinerators, four more incinerator-based common bio-medical waste treatment plants are being planned in the state. The facilities will be set up by private entrepreneurs in Karimnagar, Nizamabad, Nellore and Medak districts in about six months. These will be in addition to the existing 12 common bio-medical effluent treatment facilities in the state. Considering the task of segregation and disposal of 13 tonnes of bio-medical waste a day (from the 5,600 hospitals across the state), setting up of incinerators seems like an obvious option, but environmental experts call for a safe and effective method of bio-medical waste disposal using the plasma pyrolysis technology. This new technology is being tried out at Gandhi Hospital. Gandhi hospital resident medical officer, Dr B.V. Rao said the Central science and technology department, in coordination with the state, had provided the plasma pyrolysis technology-based treatment plant. Unlike the incinerators which cause atmospheric pollution, in plasma pyrolysis-based plants, the toxic gases are converted to water vapour and non-toxic emissions. Studies indicate that incinerators release high levels of heavy metals like arsenic, mercury, vanadium, lead, cadmium, chromium and nickel, which are ecologically toxic, into the atmosphere. Meanwhile, the officials of the Andhra Pradesh pollution control board admit that though plasma pyrolysis is an effective and safe mechanism for disposal of bio-medical waste, it is ruled out as an expensive technology.