
DATE: Friday, June 20, 1997                 TAG: 9706200723

SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A1   EDITION: FINAL  

SOURCE: BY ROBERT LITTLE, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:  122 lines

CORRECTION/CLARIFICATION: * Atlantic Waste operates a landfill in Sussex County, near the town of Waverly. A story and information with a map on Friday's front page incorrectly stated that the landfill is in Waverly. Correction published Sunday, June 22, 1997. * STATE PROBES SPILL OF BLOODY TRASH NEW YORK SHIPMENT TO LANDFILL WAS HAZARDOUS WASTE, VIRGINIA AGENCY SAYS<

A truck that was supposed to be hauling nonhazardous New York City trash to Virginia spilled bloodied sheets, needles and other medical waste after it crashed in the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel last month.

The load came from Waste Management of New York, the same company that will ship all of the household trash produced in the Bronx to Virginia starting July 1 - as many as 70 truckloads a day.

And it was headed for the same Sussex County landfill that will accept those shipments.

Workers who tried to unload the truck's cargo after it crashed said they saw needles, IV bags, bloody sheets and other waste mixed with the trash. A team of hazardous-material specialists, wearing protective clothing and respirators, was called to unload the bales.

``They were wearing yellow raincoats and gloves, and by the end of the night everyone was blood red, just dripping,'' said Jimmy Conklin, a mechanic for Skip's Towing in Chesapeake who helped tow the truck.

One spokesperson for Waste Management said the shipment met all hazardous-waste guidelines. Another said it might not have, but called the shipment a one-time mistake. Both denied the load was as messy - or dangerous - as others said.

``There might have been hospital waste in there, but we are confident it was the typical stuff that goes into a landfill,'' said regional spokeswoman Judy Archibald.

The Sussex landfill refused to take the waste May 19, however, citing its medical contamination. And the Department of Environmental Quality has cited Waste Management, convinced it was hauling hazardous waste improperly.

``We're considering this medical waste and have issued a notice of violation,'' said Milt Johnston, waste compliance manager for the Department of Environmental Quality's Tidewater office.

``The regulations are to protect people from coming into contact with infectious diseases. We don't take them lightly.''

The trash was hauled in loose bales in a wood-lined tractor-trailer. State regulations require that medical waste be shipped in sturdy, leak-proof containers.

Haulers of medical waste also must display special placards detailing what they're carrying and where it came from. The truck's records said it was hauling only non-hazardous waste, bound for the Atlantic Waste landfill in Waverly.

And state officials think some of the truck's load ultimately was dumped in the Waverly landfill, against state regulations requiring that medical waste be burned or sterilized.

Whether the waste posed any health danger is unclear. Witnesses say the cleanup crew was splattered with blood after it finished. Any trace of blood would classify the load as a medical hazard.

But Will Flower, vice president of Waste Management of New York, said he thinks the medical waste was heat-sterilized before shipping, though he ``can't be 100 percent certain of that.'' Steam- or microwave-sterilized medical waste is no longer considered hazardous, and those methods might leave signs of blood.

``We were assured that's what happened,'' Flower said.

Still, state regulations say just one needle turns an entire load of trash into medical waste, and several witnesses said needles were scattered throughout the truck's cargo. Flower said he was unaware of any blood being found in the trash but said he knows that needles and IV bags were found.

``The concern that I have is with the sharps. There should be no needles in the waste stream at all, infectious or not.''

The load originated from a waste transfer station in Brooklyn owned by Waste Management. Flower said the medical waste came from a private trash hauler who dumps at the station after collecting trash from several New York hospitals.

State officials said they might never have found the medical waste if the truck's trailer hadn't cracked in half just as it entered one section of the bridge tunnel May 13. The truck skidded about 100 feet into the entrance, and its trailer, the front now higher in the air, lodged against the tunnel's ceiling.

Less than two hours before the truck reached the tunnel, it was fined $95 for driving overweight on Route 13 in New Church, according to State Police records. One axle carried 2,400 pounds more than allowed.

Workers tried to put the truck's trailer onto another truck, but it, too, cracked from the weight. They started to transfer the baled, compacted garbage with a forklift and spotted the medical waste.

The whole load - more than 23 tons - was sorted days later by environmental specialists, who sent the medical waste to an incinerator for disposal. DEQ investigators said the nonmedical portions are considered hazardous as well, and were trying to determine whether it was dumped in the Sussex landfill.

Beginning July 1, Waste Management of New York will ship as many as 1,750 tons of trash to Waverly every day. The company hopes to send some of the waste by rail but will ship most of it in tractor-trailers like the one that crashed in May, at least through 1997.

The three-year contract was the first step in the eventual closure of Staten Island's Fresh Kills landfill. New York City plans to export all of its household trash to other states by 2002.

The new shipments will include only residential waste; the load in May came from a waste station in Brooklyn that deals only with commercial garbage.

Waste Management will get $51.72 for each ton of waste it sends to Virginia. Medical waste is typically incinerated, a procedure far more expensive than placement in a landfill.

``It's very expensive to dispose of, but we don't want to bury it,'' said Archibald. ``If it's later found out, it's a heck of a problem digging it up and burning it. We wouldn't risk any of that.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo

MORT FRYMAN/The Virginian-Pilot

Last month, a truck spilled medical waste after it crashed in the

Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel. The state cited Waste Management of

New York for hauling hazardous waste improperly.

Map

The truck was hauling waste from New York to the Atlantic Waste

landfill in Waverly. Waste Management of New York plans to haul up

to 70 truckloads of trash a day to the landfill beginning July 1. KEYWORDS: HAZARDOUS WASTE