WATERVILLE (AP) – The Maine Hospital Association has signed financing and operating agreements that pave the way for a medical waste plant at one of three sites in central Maine.

But the association, which represents the state’s 39 hospitals, said it has yet to decide among the two prospective locations in Pittsfield and one in Newport.

“It has to happen now,” said Christopher Kerr of SteriLogic Waste Systems, which will run the plant for the MHA. “Where it has to happen, we don’t exactly know yet.”

The association is building the plant as a way to save the cost of shipping medical waste out of state. The 10,000-square-foot plant would accept and sterilize medical waste, such as soiled bandages and used needles, from York to Fort Kent.

Althought the plant would be barred from handling body parts or chemotherapy-related waste, such material would be held at the plant for shipment out of state.

Waste processed at the plant would be shredded into a confetti-like material, then shipped to landfills.

The MHA said the plant will be clean and mostly odorless. Officials in Newport and Pittsfield say they welcome the jobs and revenue that the project would generate.

Environmentalists have applauded the MHA move because it means medical waste will no longer be incinerated, a process that releases toxins into the air.

The hospitals have signed financing agreements with People’s Heritage Bank. And the association has placed equipment orders with Hydroclave Systems Corp., a Canadian company.

“We’re taking the next step,” said Tamara Butts, director of business development at the MHA. “We’re getting close.”

AP-ES-05-13-04 0217EDT