$3M lab pack processing plant opens doors

Toronto, ON – Waste management company Newalta today officially opened a new state-of-art lab pack processing pack. Valued at $3 million, the plant uses high tech processing technology that improves safety and reduces the amount of operator exposure and physical handling of lab pack wastes.

The operation can handle 25,000 lab packs a year and will serve customers in Ontario and Quebec. Waste materials in small-to-medium-sized lab packs are collected and sorted by the company’s service technicians and transported to the new facility.

The facility handles both organic and inorganic materials in separate collection systems, both of which are automated and segregated from operators for safety reasons. The operation includes an automated crusher and plastics shredder to manage the original lab pack waste containers. Separately monitored reaction vessels are used to depack the organic and inorganic waste materials, with process vapours handled through either activated carbon absorbers or a two-stage scrubbing system. Leftover process materials are reused or recycled wherever possible.

The technologically advanced plant “allows us to provide an unparalleled level of service, safety and environmental responsibility to our laboratory, institutional and industrial customers in handling and processing their lab packs,” says Harry Wells, vice president of the company’s eastern division.