Statesman Journal - April 25, 2005
County might raise cap for burning medical waste
Some residents cite health concerns in opposing proposal
CRYSTAL BOLNER
Marion County commissioners will vote next week on a proposal to raise the cap on outside medical waste acceptable at the Brooks trash burner.
The proposal, which appears to have the support of two of the three county commissioners, would boost allowable medical waste from other counties from the current 1,500 tons per year to 2,500 tons per year. That could bring as much as 2 million additional pounds of used needles, surgical sponges, intravenous tubes, blood bags, patient identification bracelets, human skin and body parts.
County officials say that the added medical waste can be processed safely, but some residents are wary.
"They need to look at the health side of this issue," said Carroll Johnston, who lives about five miles downwind of the Brooks incinerator.
Plastic in medical waste is known to release cancer-causing dioxins, mercury and cadmium into the air when burned, according to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency studies. Incineration of medical waste is listed on EPA's Web site as the third-leading source of dioxin.
"The county has given it lip service, but I don't think they take it seriously enough," said Johnston, 60, who suffers from chronic fatigue and other health problems stemming from exposure to Agent Orange during the Vietnam War.
"They haven't done the environmental studies that need to be done before making a decision like this," Johnston said.
Members of the county's Solid Waste Advisory Council disagree. Bob Anderson said the committee based its decision on whether the burner met federal EPA emission limits, which consider health and safety impact.
The committee determined that the burner discharges fewer dioxins in one year than a single backyard burning barrel puts out in one day, Anderson said.
Committee members said that they will monitor the emissions in the next year to see if there was any impact from increasing out-of-county medical waste.
For some observers, that's not enough.
"The EPA standards are meaningless as far as public health," said Susann Kaltwasser, the secretary of Salem's East Lancaster Neighborhood Association.
"I don't feel the current regulations are based on scientific health reasons," Kaltwasser said. "They're based on political reasons. The EPA is lobbied by the garbage industry."
EPA spokeswoman Heather Valdez said that the agency's standards are based on available technologies and how much of the pollutants can be extracted as waste is processed.
"It's possible to have a really well-controlled incinerator. I know there's a lot of scare out there just with the word incinerator in general, but it can be done right," Valdez said.
Some residents think that money is the main reason the county wants to raise the cap.
The higher cap could bring an additional $100,000 per year to the county and $80,000 per year for the incinerator's operator, Covanta Energy. Out-of-county medical waste now generates about $57,000 per year for the county.
In the past year, the county has been contacted by at least two Washington companies that want to bring more medical waste to Marion County, said Jeff Bickford, the county's senior environmental engineer. Those are LeMay, a Tacoma garbage company, and Kleen Environmental Technologies, a Bellingham hazardous-waste-management company. Both companies were concerned that the county's current cap would restrict their business, Bickford said.
He said that the county is not trying to market itself as a hub for medical-waste disposal. However, there are no other incinerators in the Northwest that handle medical waste, and the closest facility of its kind is in Salt Lake City, he said.
"Allowing our neighbors to bring their medical waste to our facility helps our neighbors and ensures that the waste is disposed of responsibly. Environmentally, we're all connected. If we try to be total isolationists, they could dispose of it improperly, and we'd all be in trouble," Bickford said.
David Schreiner, the owner of Schreiner's Iris Gardens, lives about a mile from the burner. He said the county is letting money guide its decision.
"To me, it's a no-brainer. My health is worth a lot more to me than more money for the county," Schreiner said.
County officials said that burning medical waste has not been proved to pose a greater threat to public health than burning any other type of waste. Household garbage includes as much plastic as medical waste does, and both produce hazardous chemicals when burned, said Russ Johnston, the Brooks burner's general manager.
There are no differences in the levels of chemicals released from burning household waste and medical waste, he said.
Jim Boylan, the state Department of Environmental Quality inspector who tests air quality at the Brooks site, agreed. The Brooks burner has met all federal and state emissions regulations and, in most cases, exceeds the standards, Boylan said. More medical waste at the burner shouldn't change emissions at the plant because it still will be a small portion of the total trash that's burned, he said.
The legal limit for dioxins is 30 nanograms per cubic meter of air. Emissions at the Brooks burner in 2004 were 0.68 nanograms, about 2.3 percent of the allowable limit.
The trash burner began accepting medical waste in 1988, two years after the facility was built. A cap on the amount of out-of-county medical waste allowed at the facility was adopted in the late 1990s.
When medical waste arrives at the Brooks burner, it is packed in marked, sealed, plastic-lined boxes. By state law, it must be kept separate from the general waste stream for safety and health reasons.
Unlike other garbage, which can be stored for one week in an indoor pit, medical waste must be burned immediately. At the Brooks facility, boxes of medical waste are layered with other garbage and burned in a concrete hopper.
Chemicals such as lime, carbon and ammonia are injected into the waste during the incineration process to remove acidic gases and particles from the air.
After waste is burned, leftover ash is loaded onto trucks and taken to the North Marion County Waste Disposal Facility off Interstate 5 near Woodburn. There it is deposited in plastic and clay-lined ash pits to be covered with another layer of plastic and eventually planted with grass.
cbolner@StatesmanJournal.com or (503) 589-6967
What's next
The Marion County Board of Commissioners is scheduled to discuss the proposal to increase the cap on out-of-county medical waste at 9 a.m. May 2 at Courthouse Square, 555 Court St. NE, Salem. Call (503) 588-5212.
By the numbers
The Brooks burner incinerates about 185,000 tons of garbage per year. About 900 tons of that is medical waste.
* 350 tons comes from in-county sources: Salem Hospital, dental offices and veterinary clinics.
* The other 550 tons is out-of-county medical waste. The allowable limit is 1,500 tons per year.
The county charges $200 per ton to incinerate out-of-county medical waste.
* About $97 from each ton pays for a full-time staff person in Salem-Keizer schools to teach students about the benefits of recycling. The money also is used for waste-reduction grants.
* About $80 is given to Covanta Energy, the burner's operator.
* The remaining $23 covers expenses for incinerating the medical waste.
What is infectious medical waste?
The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality divides infectious medical waste into four categories: biological waste, cultures and stocks, pathological waste and sharps. Examples of these include blood-soaked surgical sponges, intravenous tubes, blood bags, used scalpels, animal carcasses, human skin and body parts.
All infectious waste except sharps must be treated before disposal, according to DEQ regulations.
Treatment may include incineration and steam sterilization. Afterward, the waste is put into landfills or plastic-lined ash pits.