A hazardous neighbor?

NORTH SALT LAKE — It was mid-morning, so the July sun had yet to reach its peak. Jennifer Nobbs was out on her front step in the Foxboro subdivision, watching her twin boys, Zack and Ben, play.

"With as many people and things that are here," she said, "it's still pretty quiet."

The steady hum of machinery from her back-door neighbor, Stericycle, doesn't bother her much anymore. Nor does the near-transparent steam emitted from the plant — one of 72 medical-waste incinerators still operating in the United States.

Nine years ago, approximately 2,400 such incinerators were in operation across the nation, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. But most have closed.

Utah's plant now accepts waste from several states, including Arizona and California, where medical-waste incinerators have shut down in recent years due to increased state and federal regulation and outcry from residents.

Incinerators emit pollutants such as mercury, lead, cadmium and nitrogen oxides. They also are a top source of dioxin, a chemical compound thought to increase a person's risk of cancer. Studies show that long-term exposure to dioxin, even at low levels, can cause developmental and reproductive problems in animals.

In North Salt Lake, developers began building Foxboro around 2003. Back yards of homes now abut the incineration plant. The development has sold about 700 homes, with plans for 500 more. Four schools are also planned for the area.

A dozen families share a back fence with Stericycle, including Nobbs and her boys. Residents' attitudes about the plant range from indifference to outright concern.

"We were told about it, but that it was safe," said Foxboro resident Angela Saxby. "We didn't know what it really was until we moved in and Googled it."

Saxby and other residents, along with national activists, want Stericycle to switch to an autoclave technology, which uses steam to kill pathogens in the waste. That method emits fewer pollutants than incineration.

The residents also question why city officials allowed homes to be built so close to the plant in the first place.

The land around Stericycle was rezoned from general commercial to residential use in 2003. Stericycle's original site plan, with which it received state permits to operate, said

no homes were to be located within a mile of the plant.