A Texas-based medical waste processing company was welcomed by the community Wednesday during a grand opening celebration.

Sharps Compliance Inc. will open its first northeast medical waste processing facility in the coming weeks at a 40,000-square-foot shell building owned by the Carbon Chamber and Economic Development Corp. at 600 Industrial Road in Nesquehoning.Sharps is currently leasing the building with the option to buy.Borough and county officials, members of the community and the chamber gathered at the new facility for a tour of the nearly $2 million renovation project that transformed the four 10,000-square-foot building into a single unit, split in half to hold both the processing side and distribution of Sharps products to clients up and down the East Coast.David Tusa, chief executive officer and president of Sharps Compliance, said that the company has been acquiring medical waste transportation companies in the New York and Pennsylvania areas, one being Alpha-Bio Med out of Lancaster, which the building is named for, and this facility is the key to making these acquisitions work.“We picked Carbon County as the site because the community was so inviting and really helped us with the process of putting our facility in place,” Tusa said. “It was just a great experience and we’re really proud and pleased to be here.”The new facility will be accepting the Sharps red medical waste 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sharp instruments, gowns, gloves, drapes, IV tubing and blood-saturated materials; as well as pharmaceutical items like outdated pills and antibiotics; and trace chemotherapy items like empty vials, nonhazardous drugs, syringes and needles, as well as gowns, gloves, masks, IV tubing and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 will come either via the United States Postal Service or through transport box trucks from small to medium health providers such as doctors, dentists and veterinarians; nursing homes and assisted living facilities, local pharmacies and homes of patients that use needles for medical treatment.David Martin, director of route-based operations and facilities for Sharps, said that the company is anticipating 4 million pounds of medical waste being treated at the Nesquehoning site annually.Items will be treated in the sealed containers or double bags, using an autoclave, which uses heat, steam and pressure to disinfect the medical waste.The disinfected material is then ground up to create “confetti,” and will be sent to a company in New Jersey, which will incinerate the confetti to create electricity, Martin said.Nearly 70 percent of the water used in the autoclave will also be recaptured and reused in the process to help cut down on the wastewater going into the sewer system.Tusa said that his company has a commitment to Nesquehoning and Carbon County and plans to be a part of the community, sponsoring events and hiring local people.Sharps will donate a medication collection box to the borough police department to help in the fight against drugs. The box can be used for prescription medications, controlled substances and more. Once filled it will then be disposed of at the Sharps facility and replaced.Officer Rob Blisard said that the donation will help the police department because at this time, there is only a box for needle collection.“This will help,” he said.Todd Taylor, operations manager for the new facility. He lives in the Tamaqua area, is happy to see the company move into the area.“We hope to bring some economic changes to the facility,” he said, adding that they are committed to providing local jobs.Marlyn Kissner, executive vice president of CCEDC, and Kathy Henderson, director of economic development, who were driving forces in the process related to the expansion of Sharps, were thrilled to see the project become a reality.“It’s been quite a journey that we had here in Nesquehoning,” Kissner said, commending Henderson on her work on the project.“The project has been in the works for over a year,” Henderson said. Sharps signed the lease last Oct. 15. “Here we are today, just about a year later.”She said Sharps is the perfect company for the building.“I’m looking forward to many more years with Sharps,” she said.