RORT r amen aR ebon 2 Where there's smoke, there's NW. Van actor John Moffat NORTH SHORE NOW: PAGE 27 December 13, 1989 News 985-2131 Classified 986-6222 Distribution 986-1337 68 papes 25¢ LOCAL MEDICAL GARBAGE BANNED FROM WASHINGTON INCINERATOR ste company state bylaw LGH bio-w challenge THE COQUITLAM company that hauls bio-medical waste from Lious Gate Hospital to a Washington State incinerator has launched a legal challenge to a bylaw passed recently in that state banning the importation of such waste. BFI Medical Waste Systems spokesman Wade Musseau_ said Monday the enactment of the bylaw and a subsequent loss to the company of access to the What- com County incinerator “would have a serious impact on how we service our customers here.” **We have,” he said, *‘made the decision to accept the challenge to fight for the right to use that facil- ity.”” Garbage disposal costs at LGH could increase dramatically if BFI Growing concern from Whatcom Country residents over the environmental fallout from burning imported medical wasie resulted in demands for restricting its importation, REITER EES were to lose access to the in- cinerator. Bio-medical or potentially infec- tious medical waste includes human tissue, pathological waste, hypodermic needles, syringes, scalpel blades, serums, vaccines, blood and blood products, animal eareasses and bady parts, and ma- terial from infectious patients. There are currently no facilities in the Greater Vancouver area for the disposal of such waste. And while the provincial gov- ernment and the Greater Van- couver Regional District recently announced that they will jointly invite proposals for a long-term disposal strategy for bio-medical wastes, a formal call for bio- medical waste facilities will not be issucd until next March. Under new provincial Iegisla- tion, disposal facilities for bio- medical waste must be operating by the end of 1992. In. the meantime, LGH and other Lower Mainland hospitals must continue to ship their bio- medical wastes out of the province. BFI haz aceess to other in- cinerators in the United States, but the next closest one to the What- com County incinerator is in California. Musseau said the cost to haul bio-medical waste to California would be higher, but he added that no estimates had been made of how much higher. LGH stopped burning its bio- medical wastes as of April 1988 because the hospital’s furnaces could not be upgraded to burn the garbage and still meet air pollution standards. Over the past three years, LGH garbage disposal costs have in- creased almost 660 per cent. LGH_ president Robert Smith estimated that the cost to ship the waste to Washington alone will be close to $150,000 this year, The cost to dispose of the hospital's tegular garbage will be approxi- mately $35,000. Growing concern from What- com County residents over the en- vironmental fallout from burning impo:red medical waste resulted in demands for restricting its impor- tation. A Whatcom County ordinance prohibiting *‘the importation of all medical waste generated outside the territorial limits of Whatcom County’? consequently passed Aug. 10. [tis scheduled to come into ef- feet Jan. 1. But on Thursday BFI filed a complaint in U.S. district court seeking a stay on the enforcement of the bylaw or a delay on the date it comes into effect. The legal challenge maintains that the bylaw restricts the move- ment of a commodity and is therefore unconstitutional, and that it is pre-empted by Washington State law. Musseau said delaying the in- stitution of the bylaw would allow the company to complete its new ‘Autoclave’ facility in Port Co- quitlam. The facility will use steam to sterilize potentially hazardous waste, which can then be taken to area landfills. Pathological and chemotherapy wastes will scill have to be in- cinerated, but Musseau said they constitute only 10 to 1S per cent of all bio-medical waste. An estimated [6 tonnes of bio- medical waste is produced daily in B.C. from hospitals and medical labs throughout the province. LGH produces about 17.000 pounds of bio-medical waste per month. NEWS photo Neil Lucente LOCAL RAGING Grannies Verna Dyck and Win Burrows sing out their condemnation of any con- sideration of housing development near Lyan Canyon Park. The singers joined Save Lynn Canyon Park Association members protesting at an Inter-River Review Committee public meeting held at Argyle Sec- ondary school Saturday. The review committee presented six land-use options. Approximately 1,000 res- idents filled out forms indicating their preferred options.