Biomedical waste process slated for Payne City OK’d by EPD
While the process to treat medical waste at a proposed biomedical waste facility in Payne City has drawn protest at a public meeting, the technology has been approved in Georgia and in at least two other states.
The chlorine-based medical treatment plant that Geneva-based MedSafe LLC plans to use at 136 Rose Ave., near Freedom Park, has been accepted by the Georgia Environmental Protection Division in Atlanta. It also has been accepted in California and North Carolina by those state’s EPD, said Michael Kemp, manager of the Industrial Solid Waste Unit under the Solid Waste Management Program at the Georgia EPD.
A public hearing is set for 6 p.m. Wednesday at Payne City Hall, 112 Green St.
While Kemp said he was not aware of any United States company currently using the process known as Med WasteTec LFB 12-5, the EPD has reviewed a report done in 2002 on the same process used at a hospital in England.
“The permit application (by the EPD) in under review,” Kemp said. “It is referred to as alternate biomedical waste treatment technology, and that technology was accepted as a viable technology. The Design and Operation Plan at this point are approvable.”
The EPD is waiting on the final public hearing, and generally the permit is issued in about two weeks, he said.
Then there is a 30-day appeal period.
About 15 people attended a July public hearing and many raised concerns about the safety of the biomedical facility being located in Payne City, which had a population of 218 in 2010, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Some of the people were concerned about the location and questioned safety measures that would be put in place at the facility.
Some people also said they were worried about the trucks hauling waste into the small city.
Ken Taylor, who owns the land where the facility would be located, said Monday that trucks already use the road to his building.
“We don’t anticipate any more than eight to 10 (tractor-trailer) trucks a week,” Taylor said.
Taylor, Allen McKee and Vicky Hutchinson were listed as part owners of MedSafe, according to the May 13, 2008, application for Solid Waste Handing Permit and request for site suitability, Kemp said. Hutchinson also is listed as the registered agent for MedSafe with the Secretary of State’s office. The address for her office is the same as McKee’s address on Tree Farm Road in Box Springs.
Facility faces other issues
There appears to be some loose ends that need to be tied up before this plant could move forward.
Taylor said this week that the waste treatment facility received approval by City Council in Payne City in 2007, which was a burn medical waste facility called Energy Resource.
Mayor Grace McCrimmons has received advice from attorney Robert Melton with Haygood, Lynch, Harris, Melton & Watson that since the company is different, proposed a different treatment process and was approved in 2007 by a different city council, it “would not be binding upon the present City Council of Payne City as to MedSafe.”
Also a new or expanding “waste handling facility” is required to have a development of regional impact study performed by the regional commission, according to the Rules of Georgia Department of Community Affairs. The local government -- Payne City in this case -- must submit any development project that meets or exceeds the threshold for a DRI to the regional commission to determine if it qualifies for a DRI review.
If a project meets that DRI threshold, a review would examine local impacts, potential effects on neighboring jurisdictions and other factors.
Information from Telegraph archives was used in the report.
This story was originally published August 31, 2011 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Biomedical waste process slated for Payne City OK’d by EPD."