Highway Workers Lament Increase of Human Waste

AP via Seattle PI.com ^

[marshmallow]

KENNEWICK -- Forced to clean up an increasing number of jugs and bags of human waste along highways, the Adams County Waste Reduction & Recycling office took out a full-page newspaper advertisement to combat the problem.

The ad features a photo of a plastic milk jug filled with urine, and the message, "Okay, One last time: This is not a urinal."

From March 4 to Nov. 27, 2002, one Adams County highway cleanup crew picked up 2,666 jugs of urine and 67 bags with human excrement in them.

The problem isn't limited to Adams County.

Megan Warfield, litter program coordinator for the state Department of Ecology, had posters printed that are similar to the newspaper ad and made them available for any county that wanted them. About a dozen counties have ordered copies to deal with the problem, she said.

"All of the cleanup crews encounter it. It's pretty much the same around the state," she said. "They're mostly found on interchanges near rest areas. Why can't they stop there?"

Ninety-nine percent of urine is sterile, but could be dangerous if it contains hepatitis or blood, she said.

Warfield said human waste falls under a newly created category that the Legislature created last spring: potentially dangerous litter.

Human waste, dirty diapers, cigarettes, cigars, tobacco or other items that can start a fire, and hypodermic needles or medical instruments designed to cut or pierce, fall into that category.

The fine is $1,025 for anyone caught dumping such waste, but the new penalty doesn't seem to be easing the problem.

Karen Cagle, who supervises highway cleanup crews in Eastern Washington, had never heard of urine jugs when she started her job in 1989. Now the numbers grow each year.

"Several years ago, we started finding them and didn't know what to do with them and left them. But you can't leave it there or the freeways would be (flooded)," she said. "It's incredible what's out there. Where is it going to stop?"

Gary Lembacher, who oversees the litter program in Eastern Washington, said he does not let the kids on his work crews pick up the bottles.

"I just don't trust any liquids," he said. "You don't know if it's pesticide or if there's something used in methamphetamine."

Taxpayer money not only pays for highway cleanup, but also pays for the state Department of Transportation to dispose of the human waste at the landfills.

"I don't know what the answer is," he said. "People are getting more out of control."

[marshmallow]

"Hold muh urine jug" alert!

[Puppage]

I SEE A BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY HERE...

[putupon]

Sounds like they're really pissed off.

[anymouse]

Can you say migrant labor sanitary practices. At least they put it in a container, rather than on your food. :(

[never4get]

omg, this is freak'n disgusting.

[cynicom]

Simple solution, do away with humans in Washington, end of problem.

[waterstraat]

one Adams County highway cleanup crew picked up 2,666 jugs of urine

My guess is, that men are doing this, not women.

[sarasota]

Someone please help me understand why someone would whiz in a plastic jug.

[OldFriend]

People stuck in traffic jams.........

[Mr. Jeeves]

So they don't have to stop driving.

[Tijeras_Slim]

2,666 Jugs of Urine Found on Highways

Sounds like an National Endowment for the Arts project.

[BenLurkin]

. . . migrant labor sanitary practices . . .

From the same folks who leave dirty diapers in shopping carts here in California.

[Salgak]

Perhaps the answer might be "Rest Stops". With "Port-a-Potties". Once upon a time, there were many rest stops on major highways, complete with clean bathrooms, restaurants, and gas stations.

Nowadays, any public restroom facility on a highway is likely to be a (closed) office of pamphlets for tourist traps, a few snack and soda machines, often behind a "fence" of interwoven chains, and some rarely-serviced restrooms that are both inadequate for the demand, and generally filthy beyond belief.

They are, of course, run, maintained, and cleaned by Government personnel, as witnessed by the hours, condition, and filth level.

A Pity some private contractor couldn't place high-tech toilet units, like the ones they tried putting on the streets of San Francisco, and making them coin-operated or advertising supported, or both. I don't know about the rest of you, but there are times **I** would gladly drop a buck or so for a clean, roomy place to do my business while on the road. . .

[never4get]

$1,025 for anyone caught dumping such waste

Thats an expensive dump!!!!

[r9etb]

Someone please help me understand why someone would whiz in a plastic jug.

Because they don't want to stop. On long trips, my wife and I like to drive straight through the night, and have been known to have our boys pee in a jug rather than trying to last until the next exit.

We don't leave the jugs by the side of the road, though.

[CROSSHIGHWAYMAN]

2,666 Jugs of Urine Found on Highways Sounds like an National Endowment for the Arts project.

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.........

Donate to the DNC

[putupon]

Prostrate problem drivers

[Fangorn]

You obviously never went on a long vacation trip with my dad driving the car. Rest stops occurred when he needed to go, and I swear the man had the water storage capacity of a camel.

For me and my brother, a Folger's coffee can in the back floorboard had to suffice. Much easier to hit than that little hole in the plastic milk jug.

But we made good time...

[Johnny Gage]

Over-the-road Truck drivers would be my guess.

That way they don't need to take "potty breaks"

[luvbach1]

Laziness?