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."

[jsbankston]

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...

A fine of $1,025 for tossing a cigarette!

[al baby]

My post was or i thought was a atempt at humor

[Eternal_Bear]

Government must mandate commodes in cars! There, another problem solved by Big Government.

[MizzouTigerRepublican]

I was once yelled at by a rest area worker in Iowa that they were calling the police on me for taking a wiz in the woods out behind the rest stop. The place stunk so bad and had these weird "metro-sexual" men hanging out in front there was no way I was going in there. I finished my business and ran back to the truck to get moving down the road before the police actually did show up.

One of my good friends was asked by one of the "attracted to the same sex" fellas at a rest stop in Kansas if he needed help taking care of his business. My friend is 6'4" and 235 lbs. Needless to say the fella wasn't asking anyone else that question the rest of the night.

[Leisler]

The official name is "Pickle Park". It is part of the state's diversity program. Some more well known are the Gerry Studds Butterbutt Rest Area, and the Barny Frank Area which is located just as you are entering Dennis. Dennis, Mass., that is.

[Hat-Trick]

A buddy of mine who works for a major beverage company told me that the #1 best selling package at truck stops is the 32oz big mouth bottle.

[dalereed]

"Im not sure what the women would do though"

Buy a Little John from an aircraft supply!

$7.95, Lady J addaptor $6.95

Little John

[glorgau]

Why not just wear a Depends?

Better yet, why not have a colostomy bag installed? :-)

[cyborg]

For all the long haul truckers that may be a good idea...LOL

[John Beresford Tipton]

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


Never tried to whiz out the window of a moving car, eh?

[flying Elvis]

2,666 Jugs of Urine Found on Highways

2,666 jugs of urine in the road, 2,666 jugs of urine.
Take one down, pass it around, 2,665 jugs of urine in the road.

2,665 jugs of urine in the road,......

[Tuscaloosa Goldfinch]

Your dad must be my father-in-law's long lost brother. He can drive forever without a pit stop. I've retrained his son, however.

[IYAS9YAS]

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

Tain't just migrant workers. Truckers do this all the time, everywhere.

[philo]

“motorman’s friend”. It was a rubber urinal strapped to the lower leg inside the pants with a hose running up the pant leg ending in a funnel at the male member.

I heard these are hot items during Mardi Gras.

I once read where these plastic jugs filled with urine are quite a problem when road crews have to mow some stetches of highway. It seems once these bottles heat up they literally explode when a mower runs over them

[VMI70]

For pilots (small plane), it is called a HERE: Human Element Range Extender.

[reagan_fanatic]

"Highway Workers Lament Increase of Human Waste"



So do we, so do we...

[Reddy]

My dad is an over-the-road driver and made me promise to never stop at a rest stop after dark- he calls them "Pickle Parks", too.

[mlmr]

Many rest stops are hangouts for homosexuals. My son uses the side of the road. He is nine and I would no more send him into a rest stop bathroom alone than I would disembowel him.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

Welcome, new Freeper!

[Vidi_Vici_Vinnny]

I smell a business opportunity!