Resolutions on early implementation of federal standards for medical waste incinerators
Town of Green Level Resolution
City of Mebane Resolution
Town of Chapel Hill Resolution
Town of Hillsborough Resolution
Town of Haw River Resolution
Chatham County Resolution
Town of Carrboro Resolution
Orange County Resolution
Adopted on May 17 requiring Stericycle to comply with the new and more protective EPA rules by 2012 instead of 2014.
Mecklenburg County’s resolution to protect North Carolinians
from toxic air pollutants related to medical waste incineration
North Carolina is home to three of the nation’s “still-in-use” commercial, medical waste incinerators. Stericycle operates two medical waste incinerators, located in Haw River, NC, two of the largest in the country. Stericycle is located less than a quarter mile from the Alamance Community College, within the Graham, NC, city limits. Medical waste from 24 states is shipped to Stericycle. The third, commercial medical waste incinerator, the BMWNC, is located in Matthews, NC. The BMWNC is about half the size of Stericycle, and takes medical waste from 12 states. Like the Stericycle medical waste incinerator, the BMWNC medical waste incinerator is located in a rural area of Matthews, among homes and schools, about a block away from the Central Piedmont Community College (CPCC).
Realizing that medical waste incineration poses a risk to the health of residents of Matthews, the Mecklenburg County Board of Commissioners, this past April unanimously passed a resolution that they will submit to the state requesting that ALL medical waste incinerators in NC comply with the EPA’s new and more protective standards for air emissions from medical waste incinerators by 2012 instead of 2014. The EPA rules, promulgated in October, 2009, set stricter standards for mercury, lead, cadmium, chromium, dioxins, furans, hydrogen chloride, nitrogen oxide, and particulate matter, among others. The new EPA rules also require more efficient recycling and segregation of medical waste, increased monitoring and testing, and regulation of uncontrolled emissions from by-pass events. Emissions from by-pass events occur when air pollution equipment fails, due to equipment malfunction or operator error, resulting in a release of concentrated pollutants into the air. By-pass events are an inevitable by-product of incineration of medical waste, and both Stericycle and BMWNC incinerators have recorded histories of numerous by-pass events.
We recommend that every county in North Carolina, in addition to local governments, consider adopting this same resolution to provide better protections for its residents from the continued health impacts of medical waste incineration.
Mecklenburg County Resolutions:
(1) Resolution directing the county to move forward with adoption/implementation of the new EPA rules
(2) Resolution requesting that all med waste incinerators in NC come into compliance by 2012
Union County Resolution
Aug. 11, 2010: BREDL chapter Citizens for a Healthy Environment (CHE) in Mathews, NC reports that Union County has unanimously passed a resolution that all medical waste incinerators in the State of North Carolina (i.e., Stericycle, located in Graham and BMWNC, located in Matthews) be required to come into early compliance with the new EPA rules by Oct. 2012.
