Hazardous Waste

An accident involving three tractor-trailers on the Bay Bridge yesterday morning spilled fuel and hazardous waste on the roadway, causing a 2-mile traffic jam on eastbound U.S. 50 and sending three drivers to the hospital.Maryland Transportation Authority officials said the incident occurred at 11: 23 a.m. when a tanker truck ran into the back of a flatbed truck as it was slowing down on the bridge. The accident caused a chain reaction when a bread truck then ran into the first two vehicles, puncturing the tanker.

QUINCY, Wash. -- Some farmers blamed the weather for their lousy wheat crops, stunted corn and sick cows. Some blamed themselves.But only after Patty Martin, the mayor of this small, dusty town 100 miles east of Seattle, led them in weeks of investigation did they identify a possible new culprit: fertilizer.They don't have proof that the stuff they put on their land to feed it actually was killing it. But they discovered something they found shocking and that they think other American farmers and consumers ought to know:Manufacturing industries are disposing of hazardous wastes by turning them into fertilizer to spread around farms.

Anne Arundel County residents can dispose of cleaners, pesticides, batteries and other hazardous household wastes at Heritage Office Complex, 2662 Riva Road, Annapolis Saturday.Representatives from the Department of Public Works, Recycling Division, will be on hand to accept these wastes from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the government office park next to the Annapolis High School.The program is open to any Anne Arundel County resident. Participants must show their driver's licenses as proof of residency.

Anne Arundel County residents can dispose of unwanted cleaners, pesticides, batteries and other hazardous household wastes Friday at Heritage Office Complex, 2662 Riva Road, Annapolis.Representatives of the Recycling Division of the Department of Public Works will be on hand from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. to accept hazardous wastes at the government office park next to Annapolis High School.The program is open only to county residents. Participants must show driver's licenses as proof of residence.

GTS Duratek Inc. of Columbia is part of an industry team that won a $1.18 billion contract yesterday from the Department of Energy to clean up a nuclear waste site in Idaho.On a team led by BNFL Inc. of Great Britain, GTS Duratek will provide its patented vitrification method of disposing of radioactive and hazardous waste by dissolving it in molten glass.The pair of companies won a similar -- and potentially bigger -- contract in September to clean up waste at one of the country's largest disposal sites in Hanford, Wash.

Still haven't gotten around to those fall cleaning projects? Procrastinators beware: The Alpha Ridge Landfill will stop accepting hazardous household waste from Dec. 1 until April 1.The landfill will continue to accept waste from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. every Saturday through Nov. 30.To encourage residents to not pour harsh chemicals down the drain or into neighborhood sewers -- where they can damage pipes and pollute the Chesapeake Bay -- the landfill accepts oil-based...

A Tennessee-based joint venture between Lockheed Martin Corp. and Molten Metal Technology is hoping to thrive on the strength of a booming market in federal cleanup programs."

A team led by a unit of the Bethesda-based defense giant Lockheed Martin has won a $4 billion contract to clean up nuclear waste at a government storage site in Hanford, Wash.The Department of Energy awarded the two-step contract to a team consisting of Lockheed Martin and nine other companies from around the country. At the heart of the project will be a Tennessee-based joint venture between Lockheed Martin and Molten Metal Technology.The joint venture, called M4 Environmental L.P., will provide new technology to process 56 million gallons of radioactive waste that has been collected in 177 tanks since 1944.

Martin Schmidt of Finksburg brought gasoline that seemed to be clogging up his lawn mower.Gene Aldrich of Uniontown came to get rid of cans of leftover paint.Someone else brought paint stripper in a delicate bottle made for perfume.Instead of dumping those substances in a landfill, these residents and others are taking such waste to Carroll County's newly opened household hazardous waste collection site, a fenced-in pavilion at the county's Northern Landfill outside Westminster.Since its opening July 11, 34 55-gallon steel drums have been filled with substances such as paint, turpentine, charcoal starter, driveway sealant, insecticides and kerosene.

County residents can drop off old cleaners, pesticides, batteries and other hazardous household wastes tomorrow at the Glen Burnie Convenience Center.The recycling division of the Anne Arundel County Department of Public Works will accept waste from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the center in the 100 block of Dover Road, near the Glen Burnie Mall.The program is open to all residents; participants must show driver's licenses as proof of residency.Public works employees will accept unwanted or unusable household products containing hazardous chemicals, such as oil-based paints, stains, solvents, pesticides, cleaners, pool chemicals and fluorescent light fixtures.