Biomedical waste dumped at motel

Bloody towels and other items used to clean up a death scene at an Albuquerque motel were just thrown into the dumpster, concerning guests and bringing the city to investigate.
The Motel 6 near Carlisle and Interstate 40 says the company it hired to clean up after a suicide, didn't properly dispose of the medical waste.

For health reasons, state officials say bio-medical waste can't be thrown into a dumpster.

Albuquerque's Solid Waste department showed up at the hotel Friday and discovered a trash bag filled with bloody towels that were used to clean up a suicide in one of Motel 6's rooms in the dumpster.

"I'm going to contact environmental health on this, because they're not supposed to be doing that," the solid waste official said.

The state health department says throwing out medical waste could lead to HIV and fatal illnesses.

Two years ago, St. Vincent Hospital in Santa Fe dumped medical waste into a landfill, and was fined $56,000.

The bloody towels at the motel had already created a stench and attracted flies by Friday.

The state says medical waste needs to be placed in bio-hazard containers and taken to state-approved disposal sites. The VP of safety and security for the company that owns Motel 6 released this statement:


"...we have safely secured the discarded items and are awaiting the arrival of our disposal company so that they can remove and properly dispose of the items from our property."
Motel 6 would not disclose the name of the cleaning company it uses.

The city's environment department did not return calls Friday.