New Jersey Company Launching Three New Projects in Rhode Island
By: Tim Studebaker
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JOHNSTON, R.I. – A New Jersey company is making some big investments in the Ocean State starting this summer. Two new electricity projects are coming to Johnston, as well as a different statewide project you’ll notice if you ride RIPTA.
The vast majority of waste generated in Rhode Island that doesn’t get recycled goes to the state’s central landfill. But starting this summer, there will be a new game in town. A renewable energy company called Sun Pacific Holding plans to built a plant to turn medical waste into electricity.
Sun Pacific Holding CEO Nicholas Campanella says, “It’ll be one of the first plants, probably in all of the US, that processes this type of medical waste and turns it into energy.”
Campanella says they’ll make it happen with the use of a process called plasma gasification.
Campanella says, “Right now, usually medical waste is being disposed and brought to incineration facilities, where you have all those fumes and smokes going into the air. With our system, it’s a closed loop system, and there’s no gas or no harmful pollutants that are generated. In fact, once the product is completely disintegrated, there’s an excess that looks like down from a pillow. And pretty much, it’s all harmless. We just throw that in a regular bag and just throw it in the garbage.”
Campanella says the electricity created by the new plant will be fed into National Grid’s system. He expects the facility to be up and running by June or July, and says it should create 40 to 50 new jobs.
Campanella says, “It’s going to be technical type, computer, electronics, and feed stock processing.”
The company’s future plans also include a solar and wind farm in Johnston. They’re also working with RIPTA to upgrade the system’s bus shelters. Plans could include solar powered LED lights, phone charging ports, Wi-Fi, and displays to tell you when your bus will arrive.
©WLNE-TV / ABC6 2018
