marine life by the depositing of incinerator residue at the airport dump and in the sea around it.

Outspoken fisherman Mr. Danny Farias had expressed alarm that up to a dozen truckloads a week of incinerator residue were being dumped at the landfill.

He said the residue included ash and concrete blocks plus chunks of a gray ash-like substance.

He claimed the "slag'' was made of bits of "toxic'' trash bags, metal cans and other products which residents had not separated into blue bags. "The stuff is poisonous,'' he charged.

Mr. Farias said that over the last three weeks he had watched up to 12 trucks a week dumping the ash blocks and the "slag'' at the landfill. His concern was the effect on the marine life when the "slag'' was washed into the water by rain and waves.

"It's an environmental destruction,'' he said.

"We take the lead out of gas and jump for joy. Then we go and throw tons of copper into Castle Harbour. You just have to stand at the dump and watch what goes on -- and what goes over. It will scare you half to death.'' The dumping of the incinerator residue was a concern of the Bermuda National Trust, its environmental committee officer said. "We are looking into the whole aspect of how environmentally friendly it is,'' Mr. Peter Drew said. But the issue had not gone before the full committee for discussion yet, he said.

Mr. Farias said he was also against the dumping of the ash blocks in the waters around the dump.

The blocks of ash mixed with concrete regularly go overboard at the landfill and have been determined environmentally safe by Government scientists.

But Mr. Farias said if the blocks had to be dumped, they ought to be dumped miles offshore of Bermuda in deep waters.

"Right now they are inshore destroying everything,'' he claimed.

He suggested the cars, obviously full of metal and plastic, which have been dumped at the landfill for years, ought to be "squeezed into matchboxes and taken to Japan for recycling.'' The Bermuda Biological Station has a Government grant to monitor the waters, he said, however, its staff apparently had no problem with the dumping of the incinerator residue.

Permanent Secretary for the Environment Dr. James Burnett Herkes said a lengthy process was in place at the Tynes Bay garbage incinerator to ensure any residue (ash) after the mass burning was not harmful.

In one of the final stages of the incineration process, he said the ash goes into a chamber where it is super-heated to more than 1,000 degrees.

The residue form that was then collected and in the end made into concrete blocks. He said 99 percent of the incinerator ash was collected and put into the blocks, "which is why you can't tell when the incinerator is operating''.

He added that any metal or cans in the residue were taken out by an electric magnetic sorter then compressed and taken to the airport landfill and covered.

He said there could be plastic bits in the metal chunks, however, they were "fairly innocuous materials''.

The gray substance Mr. Farias described was probably molten glass.

He added the waters off the landfill had been monitored for several years and no changes had been detected.

He added the new incinerated substances being dumped at the landfill were "a drop in the bucket'' compared to the cars and other metal products there.

Works Minister the Hon. Leonard Gibbons conceded there could be some ash in the metal chunks, however, it was such a minute amount it was "not a problem''.

"The position is that the metal people don't separate ends up in the incinerator, goes through and comes out. It is then taken out of the residue by magnate, washed down and taken to the airport. There could be some ash still clinging to it, but it would be a very small amount plus it is in the metal.'' The chunks were levelled and covered once they were dumped on the landfill, he added.

"HAZARDOUS'' SUBSTANCES -- Fisherman Mr. Danny Farias is not pleased with what is being dumped at the Airport landfill now that the Tynes Bay Incinerator is operating. He holds two chunks of "slag'' he found this week and which he fears will wind up in the sea.