City crews clear City workers finished digging up tons of illegally buried appliances yesterday at the former Waipahu Incinerator.
appliances illegally
dumped in Waipahu
Unearthed appliances have been
delivered to a recycling firmBy Rosemarie Bernardo
rbernardo@starbulletin.com
"We are kind of pleased with the ways things went," said Frank Doyle, acting director of the city Department of Environmental Services.
Workers were slowed down Friday by rainy weather. The last three truckloads of material -- each weighing about 10 tons -- were taken to Hawaii Metal Recycling at Campbell Industrial Park yesterday.
Recycling company General Manager Jim Banigan said a total of 216 tons of crushed appliances have been sent to the company since the excavation started last Tuesday.
Workers dug an 80-foot-long, 120-foot-wide, 4-foot-deep hole to remove crushed appliances that included washing machines, stoves and dryers.
The dig was prompted by a complaint to the state Department of Health. Banigan said the appliances will be shredded and sold to steel mills.
Consultants from the Enviro Services and Training Center are expected to take a look at refrigeration items found Friday -- three compressors, a coil and two small tanks -- to determine whether they contain chlorofluorocarbons, or CFCs.
CFCs -- including freon, a gas once used as a refrigerant -- weaken the earth's protective ozone layer, Doyle said.
"We didn't believe there were any refrigerators there," Doyle said. "There's no harmful concerns with it."
Refrigerators are sent to Refrigerant Recycling Inc. before they are recycled at Hawaii Metal Recycling, Doyle said.
Today, city and state officials said workers are expected to start clearing construction debris at the site. Steven Chang, chief of the state Solid and Hazardous Waste Division, said large pieces of concrete and rebar will be inspected before some of it is taken to the PVT Land Co. in Nanakuli. Any material less than 8 inches could be used to fill the pit left by the crushed appliances.
"The material is suitable fill material as long as there is no evidence of contamination," he added. The clearing of construction debris is expected to be finished by the end of the week.
Meanwhile, city and state officials are still determining how to deal with areas near the incinerator where tests showed hazardous levels of arsenic, cadmium, chromium and lead.
City spokeswoman Carol Costa said the administration is waiting for a report on the soil analysis of the site. Also, an internal investigation of the illegal burial has been completed and sent to the corporation counsel's office, Costa said.
Department of Environmental Services
