Salem council adopts higher medical-waste rates after county incinerator closure

The Salem City Council on Jan. 27 adopted Resolution 2025-1 to amend commercial medical-waste collection rates and charges after a public hearing and staff presentation.

Franchise administrator Ryan Zink told council that the local incinerator operator (formerly known as Covanta; now ReWorld/Reworld Marion) will cease incineration at the end of January and that Marion County had temporarily extended operations to allow closure activities. That change, Zink said, forced haulers and the county to identify new disposal pathways and drove a large increase in disposal costs.

Zink presented three pricing tiers used by the hauler Marion Environmental Services — low volume (1–59 boxes/month), high volume (60+ boxes/month) and hospital collection — and outlined the county-supported option to use BioClean, a regional company that charges on a per-box basis. BioClean’s quoted rate of $16 per 35-gallon box was presented by staff and—using the staff’s average-weight calculation—was described as roughly $11.43 per ton, compared with a prior disposal-rate baseline staff cited at $150 per ton.

Staff proposed, and council approved, the following outcome: a new set of rates intended to offset substantially higher disposal costs. Zink's recommended increases presented at the hearing were 52% for low-volume generators, 72% for high-volume generators and 168% for Salem Hospital customers; staff said the hospital rate would take effect Feb. 1, 2025, and other generator classes would be effective March 1, 2025. Councilor Nordyke moved adoption; the resolution passed by unanimous roll call (Nordyke, Varney, Tygan, Nishioka, Matthews, Gwynn, Brown, Mayor Hoy — all Aye).

The city and haulers said the sudden cost spike will be monitored. Zink told council that the adopted rates are not fixed in perpetuity: if disposal costs fall or other market changes occur, staff will return with recommended adjustments. The hauler Marion Environmental Services and county staff participated in the review; Marion Environmental Services provides medical-waste collection for a range of customers including clinics, dental offices, retirement homes, veterinarian clinics and others.

Quotes from the hearing

"If the cost of disposal goes down, I'll be right back here saying, hey. In fact, it may actually be more of an information report," Ryan Zink, franchise administrator, said when asked about future rate reductions.

What this means

Medical and other generators will receive customer notifications as required by code. Staff said Salem Hospital had been notified earlier so hospital-specific changes could begin Feb. 1; other providers will receive notices in advance of the March 1 effective date. The change shifts a substantially larger share of disposal costs onto haulers and their customers, pending any county-level policy changes or alternate disposal arrangements.

For more

Staff recommended adopting Resolution 2025-1; copies of the staff report and the adopted resolution were entered into the meeting record.