Facility Shuts Down Medical Waste Incinerator After Air Quality Complaints

A facility in Dothan, Ala. has shut down an incinerator that was used for medical waste, pleasing local business owners.

The facility had been burning medical waste for the last seven years, disposing of almost 10 tons of medical waste a month. Now, the company is looking to acquire a new medical waste system that they say is safer.

“The power has been disconnected, the gas has been disconnected, and we don’t have any intent on running that equipment,” Daniels Executive Director of Operations, Daniel Gleeson says. “One of the things I want to do going forward is make sure there is open communication where if somethings going on or the publics not happy. I want to hear about it.”

Daniels decided to pull the plug on the incinerator after hearing concerns from nearby businesses and complaints about black smoke that was being released into the air.

Daniels is looking to purchase an autoclave of steam sterilization unity. These machines could dispose of nearly 25 tons of medical waste a month.

“So basically, it puts steam into a pressure vessel and so it’s not burning anything right, so no gases are coming from the waste, it is using hot steam to sterilize the waste,” Gleeson says.

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