ONE INK, TWO INK, GREEN INK, BLUE INK
TMC HAS AN INKLING OF A CLEAN UP
TMC’s Rapid Response Team responded to an ink spill on a major highway in Massachusetts.
The incident occurred when a tractor trailer containing printer ink crashed and rolled onto its
side in the highway’s breakdown lane, releasing an unknown quantity of ink used for
commercial printing. Most of the ink flowed with the grade of the highway toward the catch
basins, but some of the ink migrated off the road and onto the grassy area adjacent to the
shoulder where the soil became impacted.
When TMC’s crew arrived on-site, they began to deploy clay absorbents and spread out sand
over the road where ink was visible. Crews loaded sand and spent absorbent into roll off cans
and pressure washed the road, bridge abutment and apron. Another team vacuumed the three
affected catch basins.
Using confined space entry techniques, trained emergency responders entered the catch basins
and installed appropriate plugs according to the schematic layout provided by the Department
of Environmental Protection (DEP). After exiting the catch basins, crews began excavation
activities along the side of the highway to remove contaminated soil. Once excavation activities
on both sides of the road were completed, the area was backfilled to existing grade. Per order of
the DEP, the plugs were left in place for two major rain events.
TMC returned to the site a few days later to remove the plugs from the catch basins and to
vacuum out the residual ink. Again using confined space entry procedures, a trained technician
was lowered into each catch basin to release the plugs. During this activity, a crew member
noticed that the outfall pipe leading to the wetlands had released green-colored water into the
wetlands. So the team re-plugged the catch basins to avoid more ink contaminates from leaking
into the wetlands while pumping of the contaminated water continued. Then the team moved to
the wetlands to skim the colored water off the swamp area.
After more rain had occurred, it was determined that the plugs in the catch basins could be
safely removed without any accumulated inky water affecting the surrounding wetlands. TMC
returned to complete the final task. Count on TMC for start-to-finish solutions for any
emergency response situation.