<p>Healthcare hazardous materials represent an increasing challenge to public health, environmental sustainability, and healthcare resilience owing to the growing complexity of waste streams, emerging contaminants, and evolving regulatory requirements. Although numerous reviews have examined individual aspects of healthcare waste management, an integrated critical evaluation linking hazardous waste classification, risk assessment, treatment technologies, regulatory governance, and circular economy strategies remains lacking. This review addresses this gap by critically synthesizing current evidence on the sources, classification, exposure pathways, human and environmental risks, treatment technologies, regulatory frameworks, and sustainable management strategies for infectious, pharmaceutical, chemical, heavy metal, radioactive, plastic, and electronic healthcare wastes. The synthesis identifies inadequate source segregation, infrastructure deficiencies, inconsistent regulatory implementation, and the rapid emergence of medical plastics, antimicrobial residues, and healthcare electronic waste as the principal barriers to sustainable waste management. Comparative evaluation further demonstrates that effective source segregation, context-specific non-incineration treatment technologies, strengthened regulatory governance, digital waste monitoring, and resource recovery within a circular economy framework can substantially reduce environmental impacts, improve operational efficiency, and enhance resource sustainability. By integrating recent advances, identifying critical knowledge gaps, and proposing strategic priorities for research, policy, and healthcare practice, this review provides a comprehensive framework to support the transition towards safer, resource-efficient, and environmentally sustainable healthcare hazardous materials management.</p>