Incineration is a waste treatment technology that involves the combustion of waste at high temperatures.[1] Incineration and other high temperature waste treatment systems are described as "thermal treatment". In effect, incineration of waste materials converts the waste into heat (that can be used to generate electricity), sends gaseous emissions to the atmosphere if the incinerator is of the open variety, new designs include the facility to store the emissions in underground reseviors such as empty oil wells, and makes residual ash.
(per Wikipedia definition)
Many different types of wastes can be incinerated, including: corrosives, contaminated solids, cyanides, lab packs, soils, and medical & biohazard wastes.
The primary benefit of this treatment option is the fact that the incinerator wastes are essentially destroyed resulting in limited long term liability for the generator. It should be noted that resulting ash still remain, and these ashes are typically landfilled, but with the incinerator TSDF named as the generator.