Garbage trucks look pretty indestructible from the outside. Big steel bodies, hydraulic rams, that satisfying crunch as they chew through whatever you leave at the curb. But those compactor blades are essentially applying enormous, sudden pressure to everything inside, and if something in that pile happens to be pressurized itself, physics is going to have some opinions about it.
That’s exactly what happened last Wednesday in Milwaukee, near 9th and Abert Place just south of Capitol Drive, reported WISN 12 News. A city sanitation crew was doing a completely routine collection run when the truck’s packing blade engaged and set off an explosion inside the hopper. One worker was knocked to the ground, suffering an eye injury and a concussion in the process.
The culprit turned out to be oxygen tanks that had been thrown in with regular trash. According to Rick Myers, Sanitation Services Manager for Milwaukee’s Department of Public Works, crews found two tanks that had exploded and two more still intact in the hopper afterward. Four tanks total, riding along in a load of household garbage, waiting for a compactor blade to find them.
The injured worker is expected to be okay, which given the circumstances counts as pretty good news. Myers credited the outcome partly to basic safety gear, noting that a piece of shrapnel actually lodged in the worker’s eye before it was removed, and that the standard-issue safety glasses everyone on the crew wears likely kept things from being much worse.
Not Milwaukee’s First Rodeo With This
This isn’t some freak, one-off occurrence either. Myers pointed to a similar explosion in Milwaukee two years ago that thankfully didn’t injure anyone, plus a comparable incident out of Ohio last year.
Pressurized canisters ending up where they shouldn’t be is apparently a recurring theme in the waste management world, which says a lot about how many people just don’t know the rules.
Why This Happens
Most folks don’t think twice about a tank in the bin. It’s a container, the trash truck takes containers, seems logical enough.
The problem is that oxygen tanks and similar canisters can still hold pressure even when they seem empty, and a compactor blade slamming down on one is essentially treating it like a bomb with a very short fuse.
Said one upset comment on YouTube: “I hope the people who are responsible for dumping their stuff in the wrong container. I pray that they get caught and they get prosecuted enough is enough hurting our city workers then you wonder why stuff doesn’t get done in the city.”
What You’re Actually Supposed to Do With These
Propane tanks and cylinders have it a bit easier since most cities, including Milwaukee, will take them at a designated drop-off center. Oxygen tanks are a different story entirely and are not accepted curbside or at drop-off. The proper move is to check the tank for the medical supply company that provided it and call them directly, since those companies are required to take the tanks back for proper disposal, even if you’re not the original patient who used it.
Skipping that step isn’t just risky. Milwaukee officials noted that improper disposal of pressurized canisters can carry fines of up to $5,000, so there’s a financial incentive on top of the obvious safety one.
Milwaukee police are currently investigating the incident, according to the DPW.