The new problem: Disposing of toxic milk

In China’s milk scandal, dairy suppliers are accused of adding melamine, which is high in nitrogen, to watered-down milk to make it appear protein-rich in quality tests that measure nitrogen. Tens of thousands of children were sickened and at least three babies died, according to official figures, although families say the death toll is higher.

Destroying the tainted milk remains a costly challenge. Burning it costs about US$100 a ton, said Wang, the Guangzhou food safety official. Putting the milk in landfills is cheaper, he said: About US$29 a ton, though there are limits on how much can be buried each day.

At the Jinniu Energy Company in Hebei’s Xingtai city, some 1,200 tons of milk powder were incinerated in fiery blasts of over 1,800-degree heat over the past month.

“In the first two or three days, progress was slow due to our lack of experience, but it speeded up,” said Wang Jian, a company administrator, adding that the incinerator air was treated to remove pollutants. “The furnace is totally sealed and there is no smoke or smell at all.”

At a power plant in the coastal city of Qingdao, some eight tons of milk powder were poured into a towering pile of coal, which was then burned to generate electricity.

“It’s a pity we had to burn the milk powder,” said a company employee, who would give only his surname, Jing. “But we had no other choice because it was substandard.”

There have been violations. In Guangzhou, the local government took over responsibility for disposal after one garbage company poured milk into a city river, said Wang, the food safety official, who declined to name the company but said it was fined US$29,000.

The local Yangcheng Evening News said the milk was tossed into a compactor, then fed into the river. “We could see white foam on the water’s surface,” the report said. “If you stood close by, you could smell the sweet fragrance of the milk.”

The dumping prompted calls from residents downstream worried about the safety of the water supply, said a neighborhood committee official who declined to give her name.

While urging an end to such unauthorized disposal, the WHO’s Ben Embarek said fish, animals and plant life were most at risk, not people, because the river would dilute the melamine.

“You’re disturbing the life cycles and the environment of the river,” he said. “You’re changing the ecosystem of the river, potentially affecting the life of the fish and the animal and plant life in that river.”

Even the public has chimed in with suggestions of ways to get rid of the milk.

Among the recommendations phoned in to Hainan’s Nanguo Metropolitan Daily newspaper were feeding it to pigs or using it to water trees — both rejected by local authorities.

“We received many suggestions about how to destroy the problematic milk powder, including making it into fertilizer,” said Yang Guang, an official with the Hainan Administration for Industry and Commerce.

In the end, he said, Hainan decided to burn the powder and bury the liquid milk.

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