Opponents speak out against proposed West Warwick medical waste treatment plant
A PROPOSAL FROM MedRecycler-RI to build a medical-waste treatment plant in West Warwick drew overwhelming opposition during a public hearing on March 15.
WEST WARWICK – A proposal to build a medical waste treatment plant in West Warwick continues to fan flames of opposition.
Dozens of residents, business owners, environmentalist advocates and state and local lawmakers voiced vehement objections to the MedRecycler-RI project in a more than three-and-a-half-hour virtual public hearing hosted by the R.I. Department of Environmental Management on Monday. The hearing, which drew more than 270 attendees, marked the start to a 30-day public comment period, after which the state agency will issue its decision on the requested license.
WEST WARWICK To many, a proposed plant that would use medical waste to generate power is not the high-tech, green solution to the state’s trash problem that developer MedRecycler claims it would be.
They raised a litany of concerns with regulators at the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management, calling the project a threat to the environment and public health and questioning how an application that they described as flawed has gotten this far in the approval process.
The materials submitted by the developer are missing a required approval from the State Planning Council, a final approval from the West Warwick Planning Board, detailed safety and spill-response plans and proof that the technology works, lawyers for the Town of East Greenwich and abutters said.