Legislators Oppose Waste Facility Proposal On East Greenwich Line

EAST GREENWICH, RI — Sen. Bridget G. Valverde and Rep. Justine A. Caldwell strongly oppose a proposal to build a medical waste treatment plant on the East Greenwich-West Warwick border, said a news release from the Rhode Island General Assembly.

MedRecycler-RI Inc., a waste processing facility, is seeking approval to construct a facility at 1600 Division Rd. in West Warwick, which would be behind a child care center and across from New England Institute of Technology in East Greenwich.

The facility would accept 70 tons of medical waste every day from across New England and process it through "pyrolysis", which involves burning the waste at extreme temperatures to turn it into energy.

“This isn’t the clean energy its developer claims it is," said Valverde in a statement. "This technology is criticized as being inefficient, because it takes so much energy to superheat the waste. But even more critically, it’s unsafe. Pyrolysis is used to burn other types of waste, but medical waste would be a new use. No one at this facility would be inspecting deliveries to see just what is being sent to ensure it’s not radioactive or otherwise harmful."

"This is not the kind of development Rhode Island should be seeking, and the people of our area are not interested in being guinea pigs for this technology," she continued.

The proposal is currently in the process of being approved by the Department of Environmental Management (DEM and the Town of West Warwick. However, because the location of the facility is on the East Greenwich line, Valverde and Caldwell are advocating for East Greenwich residents to have a say in its approval.

“The town of East Greenwich gets no revenue whatsoever from this proposal, but its people suffer just as much risk as West Warwick," said Caldwell in a statement. "We will have the emissions, the trucks in our neighborhood, the potential for accidents, and the questionable material being brought into the area without anyone on the receiving end ensuring that it is safe and that its contents are what it purports to be."

Many East Greenwich residents have expressed concern about the proposal, especially regarding its close proximity to residential areas and local businesses, said the news release.

“MedRecycler is being proposed in an area zoned ‘industrial’ but is surrounded by residential communities and is in fact directly behind a child care center," said East Greenwich resident Denise Lopez in a statement. "During DEM’s recent information session, it was clear that the pyrolysis process has not been tested. What is being proposed is that medical waste, in the quantity of tons, will be introduced to our state roadways to its destination that is nestled next to residential communities, New England Tech, restaurants, local businesses and a child care facility.."

Valverde and Caldwell are urging residents to participate in a virtual public comment meeting that will take place via Zoom on Monday, March 15 at 4 p.m. DEM will also be accepting written comments until April 14.