Twenty-six people were treated for nausea this morning at Recology's Pier 96 recycling center after being exposed to what officials initially thought might be a hazardous chemical spill. According to ABC 7, there is no larger threat to the public and the results of exposure are not life-threatening.
The first reports of a mass sickening came in around 8 a.m., and CBS 5 reports that a hazmat team was called in shortly thereafter. The plant in question sorts material from San Francisco's blue recycle bins, and a wide area around it was cordoned off as officials searched for the cause of the sickness and treated employees on site.
Two people required hospitalization.
Roughly an hour after the spill was first reported, officials with the SFFD determined that a chemical spill was not at fault. Rather, whatever caused the scare "was trash and standard material" — leading to the obvious question of what kind of recycling or trash is nauseating enough to make that many people ill.
Today's incident is not the first hazmat scare at Pier 96. In 2010 the West Coast Recycling center had to be evacuated after some sort of box on a conveyor belt broke open — sending white powder into the air and sickening employees. One individual was hospitalized in that case and 11 required treatment.
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