GARDINER, Me., Oct. 11, 2000 (Central Maine Newspapers)—Downtown workers, shoppers, and residents held their breath after a truck carrying waste couldn't hold its load.
Traffic was detoured around the area as workers from the city's Public Works Department and the Gardiner Waste Water Treatment Plant, with help from the truck's driver, cleaned up the mess.
But there was no detouring around the smell.
The odor permeated the downtown area Tuesday morning, reaching at least Vine Street to the south, and up Church Street to the Gardiner Common.
Passersby pinched their noses in an effort to avoid inhaling the brunt of the smell. Others working in offices nearby joked that they nearly "tossed their cookies," and complained of headaches from breathing in the inescapable odor.
A tractor-trailer truck owned by New England Organics, of Unity, was coming from the treatment plant on Route 24 in South Gardiner around 9:30 a.m. The truck turned left from Water Street in downtown Gardiner to go up Church Street, next to City Hall. When the truck made the turn and began going up the hill, sludge sloshed over the top of the truck's container, spilling large piles of waste at the foot of Church Street and around the corner onto part of Mechanic Street.
The thick, black substance also landed on the side and the inside of a Volvo station wagon parked on Church Street. The driver's side window of the car was partially open, and waste spilled through the window and onto the driver's seat.
Officials said the car, owned by a Kennebec Journal circulation department employee, would be cleaned and detailed, inside and out.
The truck's destination was the Hawk Ridge Composting Facility in Unity. The facility turns sewage sludge, paper mill sludge, animal bedding and sawdust into an organically rich topsoil-like material. Hawk Ridge is the largest commercial composting facility in Maine.
Some motorists who drove through the spill before the detour was established worried about bringing the smell home with them on their vehicles. Pedestrians crossing through the area high-stepped and jumped to avoid the larger piles of sludge.
John Leslie, senior project manager for New England Organics, said at least three other cars were being cleaned after they ended up smelling of waste after the incident.
Officials speculated at the scene that truck's problem started at the plant in Gardiner.
"At this point we think it was overloaded," said Chuck Applebee, superintendent of the Gardiner Waste Water Treatment Plant, noting that truck drivers typically monitor how full their trucks are getting when being filled at the plant. "When he made the turn and started going up the hill, it just slopped over."
Leslie said he agreed with that assessment
"There was probably just too much sludge in the truck, and that's our responsibility," he said. "We have to make sure those loads don't get overfilled. In this case, that didn't happen, at least not to my satisfaction."
City workers guided traffic around the spill and waited while Applebee contacted the state Department of Environmental Protection. The DEP, Applebee said, cleared the city to scoop up as much of the waste as it could with a bucket-loader. Waste that could not be picked up was treated with lime and, after the lime sat for an hour or so, was washed into a catch basin and pumped into a pipe running back to the waste treatment plant.
The lime would raise pH levels high enough to kill pathogens and any potentially disease-causing bacteria, Applebee said.
Although city crews worked to clean up the mess, Applebee said, from the city's point of view Tuesday morning, the cleanup obligation rests with the firm hauling the waste.
"As far as we're concerned, it's all New England Organics' responsibility," he said.
Crews were on the scene cleaning until noon, and traffic was diverted around the area.
"We certainly apologize for the inconvenience," Leslie said. "I will reinforce with our trucking operations that this won't happen again."
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