A Jackson Township business has lowered its emissions of ethylene oxide to fit within code established by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency after earlier receiving a notice that it had violated a township ordinance, the township announced in a Friday news release.

In an Aug. 3 report by the EPA, American Contract Systems was named as one of several sterilization facilities across the country where emissions of ethylene oxide posed a health risk to their communities.

The medical sterilization plant located at Jackson’s Pointe Commerce Park, 4050 Jackson Pointe Court, is nationally based in Minnesota and has a facility in Jackson Township that uses ethylene oxide to sterilize medical equipment and materials, according to the company’s website.

However, a Friday news release from Jackson Township said ACS appealed the violation on Oct. 6 before the Jackson Township’s zoning hearing board. Company representatives at that meeting said they installed a dry bed scrubber in September to reduce emissions to an appropriate level.

The resulting level of emissions was accepted by the zoning hearing board pending a few contingencies, in a decision made at a meeting Nov. 3. Contingencies required the company to run machinery only during certain hours, keep emissions under 1 ton of ethylene oxide annually, and provide the township with documentation from a qualified trained professional that the dry scrubbers are properly functioning every two years.

“With the health and safety of our residents as a priority, the township is pleased with the outcome of the Zoning Hearing Board decision, as well as the action initially taken by ACS in response to the EPA’s report,” Jackson Township manager Chris Rearick said. “We will continue our due diligence to ensure that the agreed upon inspections and reports are provided by ACS in the future.”

Rearick said in August that the ethylene oxide emissions only come from a portion of the facility, which occupies about 6,000 square feet of the 175,000-square-foot distribution facility.

The portion of the facility that uses ethylene oxide has been in operation since 2019, Rearick said, while the larger distribution facility by American Contract Systems has been in operation since 2014. ACS is a subtenant of the owner of the building, The Buncher Company.