ASBESTOS DUMPING AT TRANSFER STATION COSTLY

At least four times in the last two months, workers at Cape Girardeau's waste transfer station have caught contractors trying to dump asbestos there.

Taking asbestos to the transfer station is illegal. Asbestos is a powerful carcinogen if its fibers are inhaled or swallowed.

"Every transfer station in the country has that problem," said Tim Pekios, a certified asbestos-abatement contractor, who often cleans up asbestos at the transfer station.

The transfer station compacts truckloads of trash and ships it to a landfill in Dexter. It is legal to put asbestos in a landfill, but it has to be sealed and double-wrapped in plastic, Pekios said. Landfills bury the packages separately from the other garbage so it won't be disturbed.

Putting it through the compactor can destroy the packaging, said Gary Gaines, director of the Poplar Bluff regional office of the Missouri Department of Natural Resources.

If workers at the transfer station suspect a material contains asbestos, they have the contractor send it to a laboratory, said Steve Cook, environmental services coordinator for the Cape Girardeau Public Works Department. If it turns out to be more than 1 percent asbestos, a licensed asbestos contractor has to take care of it.

If the dumpers don't hire the asbestos contractors, the city will do so and send them the bill. "The last one was $600," Cook said. That's considerably more than the $34.64 a ton the city charges for dumping at the transfer station.

Workers at the transfer station wet the asbestos down and cover it with tarps while waiting for the licensed disposers to show up, Cook said. But sometimes the asbestos is exposed to the air while the cleanup is in progress.

Moge Construction brought an old ATM machine and other debris with asbestos components from a bank to the transfer station May 28. Tom Mogelnicki, owner of Moge Construction, said his workers didn't know asbestos was present when they took it there. Asbestos is a common component of old buildings, he said.

Moge hired and paid Pekios to clean it up.

Most of the asbestos the city sees is in building materials: shingles, siding, tiles or even the adhesive binding of the tiles, Cook said.

Gaines said most of that material is non friable, meaning it is solid and is not dangerous. The danger comes when pieces of the material break off producing asbestos dust.

Pekios said it is nearly impossible to tear down asbestos-laden building materials without breaking some up.

Pekios said not enough people realize they are dealing with asbestos when they tear buildings down. Cook said not enough people realize they can't bring asbestos or other hazardous materials to the transfer station.