Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, March 28, 1995 TAG: 9503290009
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-8 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: BREEA WILLINGHAM STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The woman who called "said she got sick and had to go stay with her father. The residents just couldn't stand the smell of it," said Montvale Fire Chief David Ferguson.
But Richard Burke, division president of Waste Management of Virginia-Blue Ridge, explained that the fumes were neither toxic nor hazardous.
"At 10:30 Sunday night, we got a call from the sheriff's department about something in the Dumpsters giving off an odor, and they weren't sure what it was," he said. ``We picked everything out around 11:30 and took it to the transfer station in Bedford County.
"It turned out to be cedar chips with an ammonia smell to them that looked like they came from the bottom of a dog kennel.''
Bedford County Administrator Bill Rolfe said that, to the best of his knowledge, no one was sick from the fumes. "Montvale and Stewartsville both left the scene before we got there, and that's indicative that there was no real problem," he said.
Ferguson said that, although the fumes weren't hazardous, the bins were overfilled and were "probably sitting there a couple of days."
J.W. Helms of the Stewartsville department said the bins were full, but no garbage was "running out."
Burke, however, insists that the bins were neither full nor overflowing.
"The Dumpsters were about three-quarters full. The site was just picked up Saturday, then again Sunday night at 11:30 and again Monday morning," Burke said. "Besides that, overfilled Dumpsters would not cause toxic smells of any type."
Rolfe said overfilled bins aren't the problem, it's the dumping of "illegal stuff" in them.
"People dump stuff like furniture and mattresses in Dumpsters instead of the landfills," Rolfe said. ``The Dumpsters are used for household garbage, but people put stuff in there they aren't supposed to.''
While Bedford County residents are probably doing some illegal dumping, Rolfe said he thinks most of the dumpers come from outside the county.
"It's easy for people to come over and dump stuff, and it's very hard to catch these people."
by CNB