METH WASTE, COMMON ON ROADSIDES, POSES THREAT

County Officials Working to Curb Disposal of Items Used to Make Illegal Drug

The forgotten waste of the methamphetamine-making process lines many Warren
County roads, left behind for someone else to dispose.

Though Commonwealth Cleanup Week starts Sunday, local law enforcement and
environmental officials say certain types of litter should be off-limits to
well-intentioned cleanup crews.

Empty lighter fluid cans, propane gas tanks, and even seemingly innocuous
plastic grocery bags filled with things like lithium batteries and Sudafed
pill packs could all be covered in toxic chemicals like anhydrous ammonia
and ether.

"Every meth lab in the county can produce up to five pounds of waste," said
Gary Spillman, a Bowling Green-Warren County Drug Task Force detective. "It
is usually just discarded in trash cans, but a lot of it is just thrown out
on the roadsides. If it's lying in a plastic grocery bag by the side of the
road and it's smelled by a kid, it could scar their lungs, or if it's a
small child it could even kill them.

"It's considered hazardous waste. It could even kill an animal if they ate it."

Spillman said another concern is that the toxic chemicals could seep into
the groundwater. Anyone who sees suspicious waste material alongside county
roads should avoid the site and instead report it to the Environmental
Planning and Assistance Office at 843-5353.

"Usually when we get complaints about bagged trash, we'll go out and look
at it and 99 percent of the time, this is what it is," planning coordinator
Stan Reagan said. "It's all over these county roads and it beats anything
I've ever seen."

Surveillance cameras have been used but provided very little assistance,
Reagan said. However, the cameras may be mounted again in the future in
some of the "hot spots" such as Mount Olivet-Girkin Road, Baker Road,
Bettersworth Road and Will Bohannon Road near Dunn Moon Road.

Another possible solution may be regulating the manufacturers of anhydrous
ammonia, one of meth's common ingredients, and a chemical frequently stolen
from county farms.