Pierce College Ends 2-Week Toxic Waste Storage

One-hundred-and-ninety drums of hazardous waste collected at area schools were hauled Sunday from temporary storage at Pierce College to disposal sites as far away as Texas, a state health official said.

Forty-nine public and private schools in Los Angeles and Ventura counties took advantage of the program to get rid of old lab chemicals, pesticides, solvents and similar wastes, said Maria Gillette, a hazardous materials specialist with the state Department of Health Services.

Under a contract with the state, Torrance-based International Technology Corp. collected the waste and stored it over a two-week period in a fenced area next to the Pierce football stadium, west of Winnetka Avenue and north of Oxnard Street.

Although some students and neighbors had expressed misgivings, the project went off without incident, according to a Pierce official, who estimated that 20 to 30 drums of the waste were generated by the college.

It was the 12th sweep since the state education and health departments inaugurated the program in January to help schools cut the cost of toxic waste disposal.

Statewide Effort

Gillette said about 700 schools have taken part statewide. The 13th and last sweep is scheduled later this month at an Orange County site.

The sweeps were a response to poor compliance with state regulations giving public and private schools and community colleges until 1986 to take inventory of waste chemicals and dispose of them properly. Many schools ignored the rules or were shocked by the high cost of toxic waste disposal.

Although participating schools are billed, they benefit from pooling their efforts, state officials said. “By consolidating resources and going after this in one fell swoop, it provided lower cost,” said Bob Borzelleri, a spokesman with the health department’s toxic substances control division.

Gillette said that pesticides gathered in the Pierce sweep would go to a toxic waste incinerator in Deer Park, Tex., and that other wastes were headed for the Casmalia Resources landfill in Santa Barbara County. She said some of the solvents will be reclaimed at an Inglewood recycling plant operated by Rho-Chem Corp.