In order to provide a compression and volume-reducing apparatus for infectious waste, which is capable of reliably preventing the release of infectious materials to the outside when compressing and reducing the volume of infectious waste such as medical waste, this compression and volume-reducing apparatus (1), which compresses and reduces the volume of infectious waste (W), which has been loaded into a container (2), using a compression plate (4) configured so as to be lowered and raised by a raising/lowering mechanism (5), is provided with one mechanism or a combination of two or more mechanisms as sterilization mechanisms (8, 14) for sterilizing infectious materials to be released from the infectious waste (W), said one mechanism or combination of two or more mechanisms being any of a bactericidal irradiation sterilization mechanism, an electrical discharge/plasma irradiation sterilization mechanism, a soft X-ray sterilization mechanism, a heat sterilization mechanism and a photocatalytic sterilization mechanism.本發明之課題,係在提供一種:實施醫療廢棄物等感染性廢棄物之壓縮減容化時,確實防止感染性物質釋放至外部之感染性廢棄物的壓縮減容化裝置。本發明之解決手段,係將被投入容器(2)內之感染性廢棄物(W)以利用昇降機構(5)昇降之壓縮盤(4)實施壓縮減容化之壓縮減容化裝置(1),具備組合著殺菌線照射殺菌機構、放電電漿照射殺菌機構、軟X射線殺菌機構、熱殺菌機構、及光觸媒殺菌機構之其中任一機構或2個以上之機構者作為以進行感染性廢棄物(W)所釋放之感染性物質之殺菌為目的的殺菌機構(8、14)。
