A Wednesday cleanup in Ithaca’s “Jungle” encampments saw a large volume of syringes, trash & debris removed by City of Ithaca Department of Public Works. Medical waste from the cleanup was dumped on the tipping floor of Tompkins County Recycling and Solid Waste. This is contrary to assurances made at last night’s meeting of the Tompkins County Legislature.
The site had previously been documented to contain a large volume of used syringes, provided to drug users by local “harm reduction” organizations.
Prompted by a question from a Legislator, Recycling and Solid Waste Center Director Barb Eckstrom explained, “We don’t accept many things. We don’t accept fuel. We don’t accept medical waste. We don’t accept hazardous waste. We cannot allow that material to be deposited on the tipping floor where it becomes a responsibility and a liability to the county.”
“In writing, we’ve been assured that that separation will take place at the location and not when that material is delivered.”
“The facility operator and my deputy will have staff on hand tomorrow…to assure that we’re in compliance with the DEC permit,” Eckstrom explained.
This did not appear to be the case, with material from the site being scooped up with power equipment directly into dump trucks.
One worker on the site said, “You’re not going to pick all those up…this way, nobody has to handle them,” when asked how the needles mixed into the debris were being dealt with.
A representative for Tompkins County Solid Waste confirmed that the trash & debris from the cleanup were going directly to a landfill.
Eckstrom has not returned a request for comment.
