Stericycle Shuts Down!
Public Health and Community Activists
Finally Win the Battle to Permanently Close Stericycle’s Incinerator
(Salt Lake City, UT) –For the last 33 years Stericycle’s medical waste incinerator has poured a witches brew of dioxins, furans, PAHs, lead, mercury, and likely radioactive isotopes and prions over North Salt Lake, the Foxboro subdivision in particular. After a nine-year battle, Stericycle closed their incinerator on Saturday July 2nd, the end result of hard work on the part of residents,
Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment (UPHE), and other advocacy groups, on Wednesday July 6th, at noon, UPHE will hold a press conference celebrating Stericycle’s incinerator closure in front of their facility at 90 North, 1100 West, North Salt Lake.
What: UPHE press conference talking aboutStericycle’s medical waste incinerator being closed
Where: Stericycle 90 North, 1100 West, North Salt Lake, UT 8405
When: Wednesday, July 6, 2022 – 12 pm Noon
“After years of townhall meetings, protest rallies, meetings with the Governor and state officials, criminal investigations, and even a march lead by Erin Brockovich, public health protection has finally won a hard-fought victory in North Salt Lake,” said Dr. Brian Moench, President of UPHE. “Make no mistake, it was citizen activism that forced the state and the federal government to put enough pressure on Stericycle that shutting down their incinerator was their only viable option.”
“Incineration of medical waste was a bad idea right from the beginning. It only served to spread toxins throughout the community and even created new ones. Allowing Stericycle its original permit in 1989 was controversial at the time, but it became dramatically more so in the last 15 years,” said Jonny Vasic, UPHE Executive Director.
Since 1989 subdivisions have been expanding closer and closer to Stericycle to the point where now the backyards of Foxboro homes are right up against Stericycle’s fence line. In 2013 repeated bypass events poured thick black smoke from their short smoke stack making their toxic emissions much more visible and alarming to everyone.
Even well operated incinerators, medical waste incinerators in particular, are well documented public health hazards, increasing rates of serious diseases like cancer, endocrine and immune disorders, infertility, and birth defects, for people living as far away as 7 km. and further. But Stericycle was hardly “well operated.” They made Utah headlines in 2013 “after state air quality regulators documented instances where the incinerator allegedly exceeded its emission limits and rigged stack tests in violation of its state permit. They were fined $2.3 million by the state, and $2.6 million by the EPA in 2021.
Join us on Wednesday, July 6th at noon to celebrate the closure of Stericycle’s incinerator, in front of Stericycle, 90 North 1100 West in North Salt Lake.