Though the actual groundbreaking for the medical waste incineration facility Stericycle hopes to construct in Tooele County is still a few years out, company officials believe they are on track to make the proposed move a reality.
Jennifer Koenig, vice president of corporate communications for Stericycle, said the company anticipates closing on a 40-acre parcel of land on Rowley Road next month, clearing another hurdle in the relocation process.
But, the company must also obtain state operating permits related to solid waste disposal, air quality and water quality, before it is able to finalize its relocation and begin construction on the site 19 miles northwest of Grantsville.
Koenig said Stericycle put in applications for those permits in late February, but expected the state’s review to take 12-18 months, putting a groundbreaking date sometime in 2016-2017.
After an estimated three years of construction, the facility would open sometime in 2019-2020, and the North Salt Lake incinerator would be shut down shortly afterward.
The total cost of the relocation is estimated at $10-$15 million, Koenig said.
But much about the future facility remains unknown because Stericycle has yet to set plans for the Rowley site in stone. Koenig said that at this point, as indicated by a permit application made public earlier this week, the company plans to build two incinerators on the site.
But the final type and size of incinerator to be used has not been determined.
Stericycle has applied for a solid waste permit that would allow for an annual capacity of 18,000 tons per year, more than double what the company currently processes at its North Salt Lake plant.
While Stericycle does not anticipate accepting that much waste, at least initially, at its Rowley location, Koenig said the company felt it was prudent to build two incinerators to allow for continuous 24-hour, year-round service even when one of the two burners is down for repairs or maintenance.
The North Salt Lake incinerator currently brings operations to a halt about once a week for regular maintenance, and more advanced technologies such as those Stericycle would like to incorporate at Rowley require even more frequent maintenance, Koenig said.
“Having two is becoming more of the common practice and best demonstrated practice,” she said, “because you can always have a burner that’s up and running when there’s scheduled down time.”
Koenig said Stericycle also felt it was best to plan for growth at the outset and construct a facility capable of accommodating a larger waste stream than the company currently receives.
“We’re hoping this facility will last us for a long time, so we needed to build in additional capacity for growth,” she said. “If we were to come back five years from now, ten years from now, we’d have to go through the permit process all over again.”
Stericycle did investigate the possibility of bringing an autoclave to the Rowley site as well, Koenig said, but the lack of available water in the area made such a venture infeasible. Koenig said the company’s current thinking is potable water will have to be trucked in to supply workers’ needs at the Rowley plant.
The Rowley facility will require a few more than 30 employees to keep it running, Koenig said. While some of the company’s current North Salt Lake employees will likely transfer to the new location, Koenig said others do not wish to commute to Rowley for work. Some have already left their positions in light of the planned relocation, she said.
In fact, Koenig said Stericycle has already begun recruiting Tooele-based employees in anticipation of the 2016-2020 move.
Stericycle obtained a conditional use permit from Tooele County last July to operate a medical waste incinerator at Rowley, but the company first set its sights on Tooele County in late 2013.
Relocation began to appeal to the company after the state issued a formal notice that the company’s North Salt Lake incinerator had violated its operating permit by emitting more air pollution than the facility was allowed — an announcement that caused residents of the North Salt Lake neighborhood that surrounds the incinerator to protest the facility’s location.
Stericycle received state and county approval to relocate to Rowley in 2014. Last winter, a deal that would waive half of the $2.3 million fine associated with the North Salt Lake permit violation further solidified the company’s resolve to move.