A Texas-based medical waste processing facility that is hoping to expand its operations into Nesquehoning cleared one hurdle.

On Tuesday evening, the Nesquehoning Planning Commission voted unanimously to recommend conditional plan approval as long as the Alpha Bio-Med/Sharps Compliance project meets certain conditions that were set by the commission.Conditions that would need to be followed include annual reporting of the water discharge from the facility into the borough sewer system and to meet the requirements of the sewer operator. Testing should include, identifying any contaminants that are discharged, the temperature of the discharge and the amount of flow going into the system.Other conditions include installing a slatted fence along the western portion of the building in the area around the loading docks to ensure security to the trucks carrying the medical waste and to "dress up the property;" removing all full tractor-trailers from the property within 48 hours; not permit any uncapped roll-off containers or non-leakproof containers related to medical waste processing on the property; have a backup generator with a minimum of 72 hours sustainable fuel in the event of a power outage; submit an emergency operations plan for the facility; and follow any recommendations made by Lehigh Engineering.Representatives of Alpha Bio-Med/Sharps Compliance agreed to the conditions and said they will do whatever the borough deems necessary to move the project along.Before the vote, Al Aladwani, vice president of quality control/assurance of Sharps Compliance Corp. of Houston, Texas, outlined the plans for the facility.The 40,000-square-foot building, located at 600 Industrial Road, outside the Hauto Valley Estates, would be split into two sections - a distribution center and a medical waste processing facility.Aladwani said that the facility would accept the Sharps red containers and bags, which contain needles, empty vials, glass slides, pipettes, syringes, sharp instruments, gowns, gloves, drapes, IV tubing and blood saturated materials; as well as pharmaceutical items like outdated pills and antibiotics; and trace chemotherapy items like empty vials, nonhazardous drugs, syringes and needles, as well as gowns, gloves, masks, IV tubing and bags.These items would come either via the United States Postal Service or through transport box trucks from small to medium health providers such as doctors, dentists and veterinarian offices; nursing homes and assisted living facilities, local pharmacies and homes of patients that use needles for medical treatment.A maximum of 50 truck trips total would be seen during operating hours.Items would then be treated, still in the sealed containers or double bags they were received in, using an autoclave, which uses heat, steam and pressure to disinfect the items.The disinfected material is then ground up to create "confetti," and disposed of in an approved landfill.The planning commission questioned if the water discharge from the autoclave would contain contaminants harmful to humans, and Aladwani said that it would not, noting that the autoclave is subject to rigorous testing after every 40 hours of operation to insure that it is disinfecting.They also asked if measures would be set up to guarantee no radioactive materials were sent in through the red bags or containers.Aladwani said that scanners would alert the company if any delivery was radioactive before it being accepted at the facility. If something was detected, a plan and procedure is in place to resolve the problem.He said that in the eight years the Carthage, Texas, processing facility has been in operation, they have never had any problems with radioactive materials coming in through the medical waste.Aladwani also said that the company is committed to the area, having already spent money in engineering and testing costs to receive DEP approval."Our commitment to the community is no different than what we have in Texas," he said, adding that Alpha Bio-Med/Sharps Compliance strives to protect the environment and the area's recreational resources.In addition, the company urges employees to get involved with the community they serve, joining chamber of commerce, hosting periodic job fairs and contributing to community events."We want to be part of the community and we want our employees to be part of the community," he said.The project now moves on to the borough zoning hearing board and then on to borough council before anything can begin at the building.