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Harvest Med Waste Disposal founder promises clean tech for Blount County

State-of-the-art technology, or a threat to the Locust Fork River watershed? An opportunity for our county to lead the state, or a worrisome risk of negative impacts? Non-hazardous waste, or biohazard?

Such is the debate regarding Harvest Med Waste Disposal’s application to operate a treatment facility at the county’s southern tip. In the following weeks, we’ll feature questions and concerns posed by neighbors on topics including the watershed, disaster preparedness, jobs, traffic, and other potential impacts, with responses from Harvest CEO David Dyer.

Today, Dyer shares his excitement about the technology his company hopes to bring to Blount County.

An Alabama native with a background in medical sales and entrepreneurship, Dyer’s most recent venture was a decade-plus ownership of diagnostic labs, testing thousands of samples a day at the peak of COVID. The experience introduced Dyer to the challenges and opportunities posed by medical waste, he said.

The US alone produces over three million tons of medical waste each year, according to the CDC. Into the red bin at medical, dental, and vet practices go sharps, gloves, blood-stained tubes, urine cups, gauze, bandages, masks, vials, swabs, and gowns.

Most medical waste is burned. Incineration destroys pathogens and reduces the volume to ash. But incineration is itself hazardous, landing Americans in the sickhouse thanks to the generation of mercury and dioxins.

So when Dyer learned of an emerging technology that promised sterilization with low emissions, low energy use, and no steam or heat production, he was hooked.

During a visit to a Texas operator of the same model that Dyer proposes to install in Remlap, Dyer was awed that there was no noise and no odor. The facility was located “across the street from a restaurant, in a building smaller than ours,” he said. “The system is about the size of a delivery truck and is often housed directly inside medical facilities and hospitals just steps away from patient care areas, without disrupting patients, staff, or visitors.”

Dyer chose a design that first shreds the waste, reducing its volume by 90% and increasing its surface area for thorough sterilization, according to information provided by the manufacturer. Next, the shred is exposed to ozone gas to destroy pathogens. The shredded, sterilized waste is then transported to a landfill.

An Auburn grad who resides in Homewood with his wife Mackenzie and four children, Dyer searched statewide for Harvest’s new location, he said. Though Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin courted the project, an appropriate site was not available in the city. Dyer also vetted real estate options in Pelham and Kimberly.

The 8,600 sq.ft., 1.6 acre Remlap property chosen by Harvest Med Waste Disposal is located at 13605 State Highway 75 across from the Dollar General, a quarter mile north of the Jefferson County line.

A public hearing will be held tomorrow, Sept. 4 at 9 a.m. at the Blount County Courthouse, followed by a review by the county’s Solid Waste Disposal Authority on Thursday, Sept. 18 at 10 a.m. in the Commission Boardroom. The Commission’s vote on the application is tentatively scheduled for Oct. 2. If approved, the application would advance to Blount County Circuit Court and the Alabama Department of Environmental Management for final clearances.