North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality
Environmental Management Commission
Public Notice
Special Order by Consent for
Stericycle, Inc.
Haw River, Alamance County
Stericycle, Inc. (Stericycle) operates two hospital, medical, and infectious waste incinerators (HMIWIs) at their facility located at 1168 Porter Avenue in Haw River, Alamance County, North Carolina. The facility operates under Title V Air Quality Permit No. 05896T25, which was issued on December 19, 2016.
Air emissions from both HMIWIs units are controlled by a series of emission control equipment. Each HMIWI unit is also equipped with a bypass stack, which is designed to circumvent the emission control equipment in the event of a process upset that may result in a serious harm to employees, the facility, or the environment. The facility is subject to 15A NCAC 02D .1206, which incorporates by reference portions of the federal New Source Performance Standards including 40 CFR §60.56c. This section of the federal regulations provides that the “[u]se of the bypass stack shall constitute a violation of the PM, dioxin/furan, HCl, Pb, Cd and Hg emissions limits.”
Since 2019, Stericycle has reported fourteen HMIWI emission control equipment bypass events of varying durations and root causes. The Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Air Quality (DAQ) has issued multiple Notices of Violation to Stericycle for the reported bypass events. To resolve these violations and to establish definitive steps to reduce the number and frequency of future bypass events at the Haw River facility, Stericycle has agreed to a Special Order by Consent (SOC) with the North Carolina Environmental Management Commission (EMC) to allow the facility to continue to operate while completing various upgrades to both HMIWI units.
The SOC includes an upfront penalty and stipulated penalties for failure to comply with the facility upgrade schedule and to address any bypass events that occur during the term of the SOC. The SOC will expire upon DAQ confirmation of completion of the specified facility upgrades or on June 30, 2023, whichever comes first.
This proposed SOC may be viewed on the Division of Air Quality (DAQ) website: http://deq.nc.gov/about/divisions/air-quality/air-quality-enforcement/special-orders-by-consent
A copy of the proposed SOC may also be viewed at the following locations and additional information concerning the proposed SOC may be obtained by contacting:
Ray Stewart, Regional Air Quality Supervisor
NC DEQ – Winston-Salem Regional Office
450 West Hanes Mill Road, Suite 300
Winston Salem, North Carolina 27105
Phone 336-776-9637
or
Steve Hall, Technical Service Section Chief
NC DEQ-DAQ Raleigh Central Office
217 West Jones Street
1641 Mail Service Center
Raleigh, NC 27699-1641
Phone 919-707-8404
Interested persons are invited to review the proposed SOC and to submit written comments by email to daq.publiccomments@ncdenr.gov with “Stericycle SOC” in the subject line or by mail to one of the above addresses.
Any person requesting a public hearing regarding the proposed SOC should submit a written request with a statement supporting the need for such a hearing. The request for hearing should be sent to the DAQ at one of the two above address or at the above email address. All public comments and requests for hearing must be received by 5 p.m. on Friday, October 14, 2022.
The Director of the DAQ shall take final action on behalf of the EMC on Consent Orders within 60 days of the initial public notice.