PORTLAND, Maine — Those in Greater Portland may have spotted a pinkish-purple vapor being emitted from a local waste and recycling plant Thursday and Friday.
Employees at Portland's ecomaine waste-to-energy plant first noticed the colored vapor being emitted at about 9:20 a.m. Thursday, according to a news release from the company.
Once spotted by employees, the vapor was reportedly investigated and corrected within 2.5 hours Thursday. Waste received earlier that morning is suspected to have contained iodine, resulting in an unusual hue.
On Friday morning, however, the colored vapor was again visibly emitting from the plant.
"For the second time in the last 2 days, purplish-pink vapor was reported being emitted from one of ecomaine’s stacks," ecomaine said in a news release. "Both incidents were isolated to a short time period of about 2 ½ hours each."
CEO Kevin Roche said a large amount of iodine was likely mixed in with other waste and sent through the incinerator, causing the magenta hue.
"In my 19 years with ecomaine, this is the first time this has ever happened," Roche told NEWS CENTER during an interview at the company's headquarters - to which the smoke stack is attached.
David Madore, a spokesperson with the Maine Department of Environmental Protection, told NEWS CENTER Maine on Friday that their agency was notified by ecomaine about a second incident involving colored vapor.
The MDEP responded to the site Friday, with staff from its Bureau of Air Quality and Bureau of Remediation and Waste Management. The agency said in a news release that it is investigating the two-day incident.
"In addition to reviewing records and ensuring the appropriate operations of ecomaine’s air pollution control equipment, Air Bureau staff are working to facilitate the analysis of ash samples from the facility to identify the cause of these emissions more accurately," the agency added. "Staff from the Bureau of Remediation and Waste Management are working to identify potential sources of waste that may have led to the highly visible emissions."
The MDEP is also working closely with the Maine Center for Disease Control to investigate potential public health impacts from the purple vapor emissions, as well as determine the population potentially exposed due to prevailing winds.
Across the street from the facility, Steve Albers drove into work Friday at Ruth’s Reusable Resources. He looked up and thought his sunglasses might be betraying him.
"As I got closer, I was kind of doing a compare and contrast with my sunglasses, because I was wearing these polarized sunglasses. But I was like, 'No, that’s some pink stuff,'" Albers said.
The ecomaine plant is responsible for processing waste from "73 communities and recovering electricity from that waste," according to the company's website.
On Thursday, ecomaine noted iodine is used in many common items, such as pharmaceuticals, disinfectants, inks, animal feed supplements, and photographic chemicals.
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, "external exposure to large amounts of iodine can cause burns to the eyes and skin."
"While vaporized iodine can pose health risks if directly inhaled, it is very unlikely anyone had direct exposure due to the relatively short time the incident occurred and its location," ecomaine said Thursday.
In Thursday's release, the company reminds the public of the importance of properly disposing municipal solid waste in accordance with state and federal disposal standards.
The company added any questions about proper waste disposal can be directed to info@ecomaine.org. You can also find more information from the MDEP here.
Roche warned the spectacle could very well happen again, because the batch of waste is in a 4,000-ton capacity hopper, which amounts to about a week’s worth of trash, he said.
"It happened again today because it’s still in there," he said. "And, until we get that out of there – we can’t go sifting through all the trash – we’re going to be dealing with this possibly recurring issue until it’s out."
Roche waited for the iodine to run out and searched for a culprit, while Mainers wondered what color the sky might be the next day.