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Medical Waste Transfer Station Proposed For Farragut Road
At the group's April 11th meeting, Duncan said he planned to mount a grassroots effort to contest the project, which is scheduled to be located in a 1,500-square foot space at 100-02 Farragut Road warehouse. According to Community Board 18 District Manager Dorothy Turano, the project poses no inherent dangers to the community. "Medical waste is currently picked up for removal at each facility," Turano said last week. "The secure location on Farragut Road will essentially be a centralized transfer point for medical waste, as the name 'medical waste transfer station indicates'." However, Duncan believes that adding one more step to the transfer process poses safety concerns for the community. He said transporting infectious medical waste through Canarsie could result in a mishap and a potentially hazardous scenario that could be avoided by denying the permit. Duncan said after reading a pamphlet prepared by the applicant he received from Community Board 18 and distributed at his last meeting, he was convinced this was not something he wanted to see established in the community. A source, who asked to remain anonymous, told the Courier last week that standard procedure at medical facilities is to place needles and other medical waste in authorized transfer containers and/or thick, double-sealed plastics bags, which are subsequently boxed. Those containers are later picked up and taken to a transfer facility for consolidation before they are removed and transported to a disposal site. If the transfer station passes the thorough approval process, it will be housed in the Farragut Road warehouse, where the medical waste will be stored 7-14 days before it is trucked to an authorized disposal location. "Nothing is open, nothing is treated at the transfer station," the source said. "It remains securely sealed during the transfer phase and is only opened when it reaches the final disposal location. This procedure is much safer than before the containers are sealed at doctors' and other medical offices." Turano explained that the site appears to be completely safe and "far enough away from residences and regular pedestrian traffic" not to pose any safety concerns. As part of the approval process, the medical waste transfer facility applicant said he complied with state Department of Environmental Conservation guidelines and notified Community Board 18 and local elected officials, including Congressman Ed Towns, State Senator John Sampson, Assemblyman Nick Perry and City Councilman Charles Barron, three weeks ago about a pro forma meeting at the Jamaica Bay Library on Tuesday to present details of the proposal. Turano said when she received the meeting notice, she in turn contacted several local civic groups, which is how Duncan likely became aware of the proposal. Another source presumed that no general public announcement of the meeting was circulated so as "not to alarm the public," which might result from any preliminary announcement about a transfer of medical waste. The applicant said he expected the lengthy approval process for the use of the warehouse for medical waster transfer to take several months. Charles Rogers
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