The Birmingham City Council on Tuesday held a public hearing for a company seeking to establish a nonhazardous medical waste and paper shredding facility in the Kingston community.

The facility would be at 4400 Seventh Ave. S. During the public hearing, neighborhood leaders spoke in favor of the new business, which would occupy a former industrial site.

The council voted to delay this item until next week to ensure that written comments from the public can be submitted for the record, as required by state law.

Councilor Brian Gunn, whose district includes the proposed site, commended the leaders of the company, Harvest Solutions, for reaching out to community members and addressing their concerns.

“I think this will be a big benefit for the Kingston community, especially since there is a focus on hiring locally,” Gunn said.  “They’ve even spoken about a community benefits agreement, which really speaks to their commitment to being an asset for the surrounding neighborhoods.”

David Dyer, the founder and CEO of Harvest, mentioned some of those concerns while speaking before the council during the hearing.

“Someone asked me if this is like a crematory. We have nothing to do with that. We do not handle bodies,” he said.

Dyer said the facility treats only nonhazardous waste, and the company plans to use ozone technology to sanitize the materials, which will come to the facility in puncture-proof bags or sealed boxes approved by the Department of Transportation. The treatment systems would all be inside of the facility, he added.

“There’s no water runoff. There’s no odor. There’s no emissions. There’s no neighborhood cut-through traffic. This operation is quiet and low impact,” Dyer said.

Ozone treatment allows for the sanitization of materials at room temperature with no emission or odors. Other facilities treating this type of waste often do so through incineration.

“This waste is in the city whether Harvest is here or not,” Dyer told the council. “But how we safely and in a green-friendly way handle it is what makes the difference. The question is whether Birmingham benefits from the process of it or if that benefit will continue to go to other facilities.”

BJCTA Facility in Forestdale

The council also approved a zoning change that would allow for a compressed natural gas fueling site for the Birmingham Jefferson County Transit Authority bus fleet at 943 Forestdale Blvd. The measure changed the site from a general commercial district category to a qualified light manufacturing district.

City staff told the council that there are no maintenance repair operations currently planned for the site, though there will be fluid top-off at the fuel dispensers.

City staff also said that the measure has received unanimous support from the local neighborhood association, and no one from the public spoke during the hearing. However, neighbors previously have questioned the development, including in a statement issued last week by the Forestdale Community Development Association. The association objected that the development was inconsistent with residential areas around it and that potential environmental impacts had not been sufficiently studied.

The council passed the change unanimously with little discussion and no comments from the public.