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July 28, 2013
Regina, Saskatchewan - A resident of Saskatchewan’s capital city of Regina is questioning whether or not the province has asbestos disposal rules in place that are sufficient to protect individuals from asbestos exposure.
A story aired on News Talk 980 cites the concerns of a Regina man who believes the way the city landfill handles bags of toxic asbestos debris is unsafe. “The bags were just thrown in a bunch together out on top of the landfill,” he explained after viewing debris strewn on the top of a hill at a local landfill. “A [bulldozer] comes along and pushes dirt over top of them. You know all the bags are going to break.”
When the radio station was alerted as to the problem and started digging into the rules and regulations concerning asbestos handling in Saskatchewan, they found them to be lacking. Some Canadian provinces demand that asbestos waste be buried in a pit. Others require that it be immediately covered with at least 10-12 inches of dirt plus a final cover of 4 feet of dirt so as to avoid a situation similar to what may occur at that Regina landfill, the story points out. But Saskatchewan’s rules are much more lax.
Wes Kotyk, the executive director of the environmental protection branch at Sask Environment, said, “We don’t currently specify that, our concern is that it’s immediately buried and that it’s buried appropriately so that it will not be disturbed.”
“We do ask that they be double bagged and that they be immediately buried on disposal,” Kotyk added, but that seems not to have been the case at the Regina landfill.
The gentleman in question also found it odd that Saskatchewan had a long list of rules about asbestos inside buildings in the province, but few concerning asbestos handling once the toxic material is removed, especially since it tends to be more dangerous at that stage. Broken asbestos, such as that found in the landfill bags, is more apt to release sharp fibers into the air, where they can be inhaled and cause diseases like mesothelioma or asbestosis.
Asbestos removal and disposal is often an issue in the U.S. as well. Each year, shoddy contractors are cited for improper handling, putting workers and others at risk for unnecessarily asbe stos exposure. Many have been prosecuted for these violations but others have gotten away with this illegal behavior, despite federal, state, and local environmental departments’ attempts to keep up with those who disregard such laws.
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