Birmingham City Council Approves New Medical Waste Facility for Kingston Neighborhood

A new non-hazardous medical waste facility is coming to Birmingham’s Kingston neighborhood after receiving approval from the city council Tuesday.

The facility will treat non-hazardous waste — including PPE, pharmaceuticals and single-use medical devices — using eco-friendly technology. City leaders said the project will transform a vacant lot into a resource that gives back to the community.

There are more than a dozen hospitals in Birmingham but currently no local option for processing non-hazardous medical waste.

David Dyer, CEO and founder of Harvest Solutions, said that gap has forced waste and economic benefits to leave the city.

“We have people from all over the state, Mississippi, panhandle, come here every day, which as far as not hazardous medical waste, you have to go to Gadsden, Huntsville, west Alabama or Dothan,” Dyer said. “So there is no non-hazardous medical waste provider here. It’s all the economic benefit goes out of Birmingham.”

Instead of sending waste and tax revenue elsewhere, Dyer said the new facility will process materials locally using machines that use oxygen to create ozone gas to treat the waste.

“Historically with medical waste, you have incinerators that burn medical waste or you have autoclave used thousands of gallons of water,” Dyer said. “This ozone machine, it shreds medical waste, feeds it through a column. It uses ozone to disinfect it. It looks like confetti when it comes out. So it also reduces the density by 70% or more as far as when we take it to a landfill once it’s treated.”

Birmingham City Councilor Brian Gunn, who represents Kingston, said the facility is a step forward for a community that has long dealt with environmental challenges.

“Kingston has borne the brunt of a lot of pollution and harm, and we’re excited to see that this business, which is a clean energy friendly business, coming to the neighborhood to create vibrancy in the community once again and to activate a once underutilized property and make it contribute back to the city of Birmingham economically,” Gunn said.

City leaders said the facility is expected to create around 20 local jobs and generate new tax revenue. Dyers said it should be fully operational either late in the summer or in the early fall.