A $2 million medical waste facility is set to open in Carbon County

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Sharps Compliance Inc., with headquarters in Houston, is leasing a 40,000-square-foot building at 600 Industrial Road in Nesquehoning from the Carbon Chamber & Economic Development Corp. Sharps has a 15-year lease with an option to buy.

A ribbon cutting was held last week. The plant will open at the end of October.

The facility will be accepting medical waste containers and bags, needles, empty vials, glass slides, syringes and blood-saturated materials, as well as pharmaceutical items such as outdated pills and antibiotics and more. David Tusa, president and CEO of Sharps Compliance Inc., said he expects the plant to process around four million pounds of medical waste per year.

“We serve the entire country, but we’ve made a significant expansion over the last year in the Northeast, opening facilities in Pennsylvania and New York,” Tusa said.

“We really like Pennsylvania because it’s central to an 11-state region that we service throughout the Northeast, with a route-based business,” Tusa said. “… We had a number of facilities that we’ve visited and looked at for potentially opening our operations, but Carbon County was just great because they [Carbon officials] were so inviting.”

He said the Carbon Chamber & Economic Development Corp. was very welcoming and really wanted Sharps to be part of the community.

“It was much more than just ‘come in here and lease this facility’ … but what we wanted to do was come in and spend money on folks from the area,” Tusa said.

He said that Sharps spent a lot of money on local contractors and hired local employees.

“We really feel like we’re part of the community, and that’s important to us as a business … and I think it’s really important for the county,” he said.

Tusa hired Todd Taylor of Tamaqua to be operations manager of the new facility.

“We’re excited to support their efforts to see new job creation and industry in Carbon County,” said Marlyn Kissner, executive director of the CCEDC. “Mr. Tusa and the team are great partners demonstrating the importance of hiring local contractors and utilizing a number of small businesses in the area and giving back to the community.”

Sharps signed a lease for the building last Oct. 15; renovations have taken a year.

“I am optimistic that they will be providing jobs and economic opportunity to the county for years to come,” said Kathy Henderson, director of economic development for CCEDC.

Tusa said the company is publicly traded and generates annual revenues of around $40 million. He said Sharps services many markets, including retail clinics such as Walgreens, CVS and Rite Aid, government entities and what he called the professional market, which includes doctors, dentists and veterinarians. He said it also services home health care patients.

Sharps will be donating a medication collection box for Nesquehoning police to collect controlled substances and drug paraphernalia.