Environmental Hazards Found on Island

By JAMES KINSELLA

Recycling is driven by a desire to better protect the environment.

But a tour of Vineyard transfer stations over the past week revealed
instances where recycled materials might have been hurting rather than
helping.

The tour by a Gazette reporter and photographer found broken
fluorescent light bulbs and car batteries resting on the ground, oil
leaking out into puddles and metals stored on bare ground. All are
violations of state rules governing the handling of recyclables.

Of the seven transfer stations, the Edgartown station - the
main transfer operation of the Martha's Vineyard Refuse Disposal
and Resource Recovery District - appeared to have the most
violations, followed by the Vineyard Haven station. The Chilmark station
(a satellite in the Vineyard recovery district) appeared to be the most
in compliance.

The Gazette team first visited the Edgartown station last Friday and
returned to the station Tuesday to find that several apparent violations
had been addressed. In particular, the metals had been moved off the
ground and either onto a concrete pad or into a dumpster.

District manager Donald Hatch blamed the conditions at the Edgartown
station last Friday on the busy summer season. Mr. Hatch said transfer
station workers direct people where to place recyclables, but he said
items sometimes are dropped in the wrong location, especially items that
carry a disposal charge.

Fred LaPiana, the Tisbury director of public works, said people
using the Vineyard Haven station have been known to surreptitiously
leave behind materials not accepted by the station. A visit Tuesday to
the station revealed a car battery and two propane tanks sitting on the
ground, neither officially allowed at the station.

A visit that same day to the West Tisbury station, another satellite
of the district, also revealed metals on the ground, including a hot
water tank.

Ed Coletta, a spokesman for the state Department of Environmental
Protection, said complaints periodically are made to the department
about conditions at different transfer stations around the state.

Mr. Coletta said the department usually refers the complaints to
local boards of health, which permit the transfer stations and have the
same powers of enforcement as the department.

On those occasions, he said, the town health agent usually visits
the station to verify the violations and ask the station to remedy the
situation.

If violations persist, Mr. Coletta said, they can be the subject of
an environmental notice of noncompliance, or civil or criminal court
action. A transfer station also can be shut down, he said.

Edgartown health agent Matt Poole said the district transfer station
in his town "does at least an okay job in handling recyclables.
There's room for improvement. It's the difference between an
excellent operation and a fair operation."

More significant, Mr. Poole said, is the lack of seagulls haunting
the transfer station, which also handles trash. "They've
successfully operated bird-free from day one," he said.

Mr. Poole said controlling the bird situation at the transfer
station is especially important because the Martha's Vineyard
Airport is nearby. Bird strikes are dangerous to aircraft.

Mr. Poole said the Browning-Ferris Industries (BFI) commercial
transfer operation in Oak Bluffs continues to draw seagulls, even though
the recycling operation at the station appeared to be among the cleanest
on the Vineyard.

David Nash, an Edgartown resident who formerly worked in the
Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection Waste Management
Bureau, is critical of the Edgartown station operation.

Mr. Nash, who headed permitting and enforcement at waste-handling
facilities in that state, visited the Edgartown, Oak Bluffs and BFI
transfer stations last Friday with the Gazette.

He pointed to a pile of fluorescent lights, which he said were
improperly stored on the ground. He noted that at least one light was
broken, which would have released mercury, a toxic carcinogen, into the
air.

Sitting next to the pile on the ground were a couple of car
batteries and propane tanks. The tanks are not supposed to be left at
the district, while the batteries should be off the ground.

Mr. Nash also drew attention to a pile of metals, mostly on the
ground, including the front end of a Volkswagen Beetle car. He pointed
to stains on the ground underneath the metals, which he said could
consist of toxic spills. The metals pile also included plastic chairs.

He also criticized the relative safety of the area where users
recycle cardboard, glass and plastic. He said a small wooden step
leading to the cardboard dumping area was wobbly, while catwalks along
dumpsters where glass and plastic are dumped lacked safety railings.

Mr. Nash also faulted the signage at the dump. He said signs
sometimes were missing or gave poor directions. Many are hand-lettered,
which he said contributes to an amateurish appearance at the station.

In contrast, he said the small Oak Bluffs municipal recycling
station was a much cleaner operation, although that station does not
handle the range of recyclables that Edgartown handles. He also praised
the clearly posted rules at the Oak Bluffs station.

Mr. Hatch said he has been aware of the need for better signs at the
Edgartown station. But because he modified station operations, Mr. Hatch
said the signs have needed to be modified. He said he plans to speak
with a commercial sign painter to make signs for the station.

As for the pile of fluorescent bulbs, Mr. Hatch said the off-Island
business that had been handling the bulbs has stopped accepting them. He
said the district was ordering cardboard packaging for storing the bulbs
before sending them to a new vendor.

When the Gazette returned, the wobbly wooden stair had been taken
away and the catwalks lacking railings were blocked off.

Mr. Hatch said a long-term problem at the station is its layout,
where people can dispose of recyclables before visiting the station
shack, rather than having to pass by a gate house to gain entry to the
facility. Users also can drop materials at certain sites out of sight of
personnel.

But Mr. Nash said the facility operation also appeared to show the
failure of station employees to walk around the site and clean up
wrongfully disposed materials.

This week, Mr. Nash returned to the Edgartown station, where he
noted the changes. "They made some quick, hasty, temporary changes
. . . It's certainly a start. There's still the signage
issue," he said.

A BFI spokesman was not available for comment about the Oak Bluffs
commercial transfer operation.

Someone had slipped at least one car battery and two propane tanks
inside the Vineyard Haven station. Oil was leaking into a puddle.

Mr. LaPiana, whose duties include supervising the station, said the
oil would have flowed into a catch basin, where the materials are
trapped and removed.

He said the town recently installed a camera to monitor the station.

"There's not much to say," about improper use of
the station, Mr. LaPiana said, other than that station employees must
clean up after improper use.

Mr. Hatch said he is aware of the need for the Vineyard to better
handle and move its recyclables off the Island. He said he is working on
a grant application to fund a consultant who could work with all the
Island transfer stations. One avenue would be to pool Island
recyclables, to realize more revenue from marketable recyclables and
better meet other costs involved in recycling, he said.

Reporter Mark Alan Lovewell contributed to this story.