PROVIDENCE – Amid pending review of a controversial medical waste treatment facility proposed for West Warwick, state lawmakers are putting severe restrictions on others like it.
The General Assembly this week passed companion pieces of legislation that limit where high-heat medical waste treatment facilities can operate, preventing them from opening near schools, child care centers, residential-zoned areas, and open space or water, among other areas.
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The original legislation sought to ban facilities that heat-treat waste altogether, but was amended to instead limit their locations. The bills passed largely along party lines, with some Republican lawmakers objecting to limits on business and potential economic development benefits.
The legislation, introduced by Sen. Bridget Valverde, D-North Kingstown, and Rep. Justine Caldwell, D-East Greenwich, came on the heels of the proposal to open one such high-heat waste plant on Division Road in West Warwick. MedRecycler-RI, a subsidiary of New Jersey-based Sun Pacific Holding Corp., has already leased a 48,000-square -foot warehouse space to use as a medical waste treatment plant.
The company needs the blessing of the R.I. Department of Environmental Management, among other local and state entities, to operate, however. DEM is slated to issue its decision on the application by July 13, according to spokeswoman Gail Mastrati.
In March, a virtual public hearing on the project drew hundreds of community residents, lawmakers and environmental and medical experts who denounced the project as a safety hazard reliant on unproven technology.
MedRecycler wants to ship in 70 tons of blood, needles and other medical human and animal waste daily. The medical waste would be shredded, dried and treated at high heat using pyrolysis, which breaks down the waste into gas that can be burned for electricity. Because the process does not use oxygen, it avoids the harmful emissions and byproducts from incineration, Nicholas Campanella, MedRecycler CEO, said previously.
But pyrolysis has primarily been used to treat plastic – only one other plant in the U.S. ever used the process for medical waste, but at a smaller scale and it’s unclear whether it still exists. Opponents say the project creates unnecessary environmental and safety risks for the community, which includes nearby residential neighborhoods as well as a day care and a number of other businesses.
“This facility shouldn’t be allowed anywhere, but especially not anywhere near where people live, where children spend their days, or near our water or other environmental resources,” Caldwell said in a statement. “Our legislation ensures that it isn’t, and that Rhode Island doesn’t become a destination for other people’s trash.”
R.I. Attorney General Peter F. Neronha in April called on DEM to halt its review until more testing and certification of pyrolysis was completed.
While Campanella emphasized the economic impact of the project – which includes 100 construction and maintenance positions and 30 permanent jobs plus $4.75 million in tax revenue for West Warwick over the course of its 20-year lease – opponents said the risks outweigh any economic benefits.
“Out-of-state developers are not going to use our state to make a buck by bringing medical waste into our neighborhoods, burning it at high temperatures and releasing pollution into our environment,” Valverde said in a statement.
In a letter sent to DEM on Friday and shared with PBN, Michael Kelly, an attorney representing MedRecycler, said the legislation did not expressly state it was retroactive and therefore could not affect the company’s plans. Kelly also described the bill as an “attack” on the project that amounted to unconstitutional “invading” of the executive branch’s authority through the DEM.
Asked the same question, Mastrati in an email on Friday said DEM is “reviewing the legislation.”
Update: Adds comment from Michael Kelly in paragraph 13.
Nancy Lavin is a PBN staff writer. You may reach her at Lavin@PBN.com.
