Consultant sees ‘occupational health issue’ in permit for burning medical waste at CT incinerator

As widespread public backlash builds against Reworld ‘s bid to burn medical trash at its Connecticut incinerator, a waste-processing consultant told Southington officials that he’s more concerned about risk to workers than potential hazard to neighbors.

“I don’t look at it as a major public health issue; it’s an occupational health issue,” Ed Krisiunas, president of Burlington-based WNWN International, told the Southington Town Council .

Reworld needs to build in better safeguards for employees who’d be transporting and processing medical waste at the Bristol site, and for firefighters, police and EMTs who could be called to emergencies at the plant, Krisiunas said.

“The (proposed) permit as written should not be granted. There are flaws in there,” he told the council.

Reworld, formerly known as Covanta, is applying for state permission to burn up to 57 tons of medical waste a day, including bedding, surgical gowns, used bandages, needles, vials, IV bags and similar items. Scores of homeowners in Bristol, Southington and Plainville have united to block the plan, concerned about the potential risk of new types of infectious or toxic air pollutants.

In response, Southington’s council has drafted a letter to the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection opposing the permit. On Monday night, it invited Krisiunas, Southington Health Director Susan Lonczak and Ken Vallera, the director of the Bristol Resource Recovery Facility Operating Committee, to give presentations on the medical waste matter and the flurry of residents’ complaints about low-level but annoying noise coming from the plant.

Lonczak announced that DEEP has set an Oct. 22 hearing on Zoom where Connecticut residents can speak for up to three minutes each about their opinions of the Reworld plan.

Opponents have been scrambling since learning in the last spring that DEEP had already reached a tentative conclusion that permits should be approved. Through the Bristol Residents for Clean Air group on Facebook , they’ve been urging residents to send emails and letters urging rejection. Last week, they posted news of progress: “We are nearing 500 letters of public comment sent in so far. This is huge!”

Lonczak said the directors of health districts in and around Bristol have raised questions about potential chemical emission exposures and about whether the medical waste could worsen noise complaints from the area. Some homeowners in Bristol, Plainville, Southington and Wolcott have reported a relentless electronic humming or buzzing that goes through their neighborhoods day and night, often worsening when Reworld’s incinerator is running.

“The Bristol Burlington Health District has been working tirelessly on that. They’re moving forward with legal action requiring the company mitigate the issues,” Lonczak said. “There has been some action by Reworld to mitigate this, but it hasn’t been enough.”

In his presentation, Krisiunas noted that the plant has been operating for decades. If it had been emitting toxins in that time, there would already be signs, he said.

“You have a state-of-the-art incinerator with emission controls. If there were issues with the emission, we would have heard about them,” he said. “If the unit if operating properly, it is not going to release infectious agents.”

Reworld’s permit application indicates it would have small delivery trucks bring medical waste in sealed boxes from hospitals and other customers. It said it would put up a small building exclusively for those deliveries; boxes would be put on a conveyor from there to the incinerator, shielding most workers and regular trash collections drivers from any risk of contact.

But Krisiunas questioned where trucks delivering medical waste would wait when there are backups in dumping trash at the plant. Regular garbage trucks are sometimes held up for hours if there’s a backlog of garbage to burn, and Krisiunas said the permit should address where trucks would be held to prevent potential leaks.

He also criticized a provision from DEEP that would require Reworld to periodically examine boxes of medical waste to ensure the contents are what their customers have claimed. Opening those boxes and the bags inside would release aerosols that could be hazardous to workers, he said.

Vallera said there is an advantage to allowing medical waste incineration at the Bristol plant because it’s far more profitable than burning household trash. Reworld has 10 years remaining on its contract to burn garbage for Bristol and 13 nearby communities, and there’s no clear alternative if the contract isn’t renewed, he said.

“The stronger that company stays, the better opportunity we have for the long term to extend (the contract) in Year 11,” he said.

The communities covered by the contract are Berlin, Branford, Bristol, Burlington, Hartland, New Britain, Plainville, Plymouth, Prospect, Southington, Seymour, Warren, Washington and Wolcott.