500 tons of illegal medical waste dug up

Art Nadler

Wednesday, March 25, 1998 | 9:44 a.m.

NORTH LAS VEGAS -- By the end of digging Tuesday afternoon, more than 500 tons -- or 44 dump-truck loads -- of illegally buried medical waste had been brought for temporary storage to the Apex landfill, a remote area 19 miles north of Las Vegas.

Environmental Technologies of Nevada Inc., a subsidiary of Silver State Disposal Service, has been removing medical waste from an adjacent yard next to US EnviroMedical Corp., 3890 Walnut St., since Friday.

Standing next to a huge mound of excavated earth pimentoed with red-bagged medical refuse containing blood-soaked hospital garments and culture dishes of suspected infectious materials, Tom Gardner shook his head in disbelief.

"One of my biggest worries is the broken (culture dish) tubes," Gardner, the regulatory manager at Environmental Technologies, said. "I'm worried about our employees at the landfill being infected."

Gardner said he is waiting for the North Las Vegas Police crime laboratory to come back with test results before his company decides what to do with the US Med waste at the landfill that has been dumped in rubber-lined isolated areas which are covered at night for protection against high winds.

Here's the dilemma:

The Clark County Health Department says medical waste doesn't have to be treated before being buried in a Class 1 landfill in Nevada. But Silver State requires treatment as a safety precaution.

Ben Bean, vice president and general manager of US Med, says his company uses three different kinds of disinfectants on medical waste before disposing of it.

Gardner says he doesn't know what method US Med uses to treat medical waste, so Silver State won't accept their trash at the landfill.

In Nevada's defense, not every state requires that medical waste be treated. Jim Whiting, owner of the Mohave Valley landfill in Ft. Mohave, Ariz., 2 miles south of Bullhead City, said his storage facility simply buries refuse.

"The only thing that we wouldn't take is radioactive waste," Whiting said. "What we are doing complies with the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality."

Gardner said Environmental Technologies has asked the Clark County Health Department for a letter taking responsibility for the methods of treatment US Med uses, and that they have never received one.

"There are 50 recyclers in the community, and Silver State doesn't think that there should be," Dr. Otto Ravenholt, Clark County chief health officer, said Friday when US Med was served four search warrants by the North Las Vegas Police. "Silver State won't take the chlorine-treated waste."

Gardner said Environmental Technologies uses an autoclave treatment procedure on all medical waste. This involves placing the material in a chamber and subjecting it to extreme steam pressure.

"We are opening enclosed (red) bags, and there is no way they would have been treated," Gardner said of the unearthed medical waste. "With autoclave, the plastic bags would have been shrunk."

Sgt. Mike Rose of the North Las Vegas Police said digging at the Craig Road and Walnut Street site was stopped Tuesday afternoon due to high winds. He said he's hopeful digging will wrap up today.

The area excavated has grown to approximately 25-by-40 feet and is 15 feet deep.