Stericycle, Inc., a provider of regulated medical waste management and secure information destruction solutions, unveiled its latest state-of-the-art Hospital, Medical and Infectious Waste Incinerator (HMIWI) facility located at the Tahoe Reno Industrial Center in McCarran, Nevada. The 110,000 sq.ft. facility will help address the region’s growing need for medical waste management, driven largely by increased demand and evolving federal, state and local regulations for proper pharmaceutical and medical waste disposal.
Stericycle invested nearly $110 million to construct and equip the best-in-class facility with innovative systems and engineering advancements that make it possible to safely treat potentially infectious materials and safely dispose of unwanted medications – keeping them out of waterways and medicine cabinets. The site is also designated as a Shred-it® bailing facility to support a circular paper economy through the company’s suite of shredding services, which are designed to protect private information.
The McCarran facility will operate under strict state and federal emissions standards for HMIWIs, which are stricter standards than those imposed on hazardous and municipal waste incinerators. The facility was outfitted with the best available air pollution control system to protect employees and the community as well as auxiliary systems to ensure uninterruptible services during power outages.
Reducing Stericycle’s dependency on water and natural gas was also an important goal. The company created a plant process water reuse system that will result in no industrial wastewater discharge from the facility, and the facility is using reclaimed water with onsite treatment. Stericycle also added waste-to-energy technology, which will generate steam energy from the waste treatment process that will be used to provide energy to heat water for container washers versus using natural gas.
