ITHACA, N.Y. -- After thousands of hours of investigation, consultation, discussion and deliberation over 20 months, a committee of university and community representatives has recommended a waste-management plan for Cornell University and its College of Veterinary Medicine that would phase out the need for incineration.

The Cornell/Community Waste Management Advisory Committee will hold a press briefing at the Community Dispute Resolution Center office, 120 W. State St., Ithaca, at 3 p.m. today. Don Smith, dean of the veterinary college, as well as other university officials and members of the committee, will be available at the briefing.

The plan, adopted Saturday at the 150th meeting of the committee and its working groups, calls for a tandem of technologies to safely and effectively treat and dispose of about 600 tons of potentially infectious animal remains, animal bedding, regulated medical waste and other laboratory waste generated at Cornell.

The committee called for Cornell to conduct an engineering and scientific study of its plan to determine the plan's efficacy and feasibility. The committee also recommended that Cornell study opportunities to recycle waste-treatment residuals. Waste minimization and pollution prevention have been at the forefront of the committee's work.

Because the two technologies suggested by the committee are not now used in combination for a waste stream such as Cornell's, the group acknowledged that its idea might not prove workable. In such a case it recommended a backup plan that would utilize one of the technologies -- external steam sterilization -- and examine other alternatives for dealing with a relatively small amount of animal remains that such sterilization might not treat adequately. The committee's first choice would deploy a chemical digestion system (using sodium hydroxide) in tandem with external steam sterilization.

"We are completely committed to the success of this innovative plan as the most effective and environmentally sound method of waste disposal for Cornell," the committee said in a statement, "and we hope it can serve as a model for other institutions around the world."

The committee was formed at Cornell's invitation in October 1996 after the emergence of opposition to a plan announced by the state to replace the current incinerator at the College of Veterinary Medicine with a regulated medical waste incinerator. Opponents contended that even the safest, most effective new incinerator would still discharge dangerous dioxins into the air.

A month after it was formed, the committee asked the Ithaca-based Community Dispute Resolution Center to facilitate its work. As deliberations proceeded, nationally prominent consultants were hired, inspection trips to sites in the United States and Canada were organized and small, issue-oriented working groups were formed. The groups produced a number of reports on such subjects as waste-stream analysis, waste minimization and technology options. Cornell and the College of Veterinary Medicine financed the committee's work.

Represented in the final vote were the Cornell Faculty Senate, the Cornell Graduate and Professional Assembly, The Cornell/Ithaca Safety Committee, the Tompkins County Environmental Management Council, the Cornell Division of Facilities and Campus Services, the College of Veterinary Medicine, Citizens Concerned About Medical Waste Incineration, the New York State Assembly, the Tompkins County Board of Representatives, the town of Ithaca, the Forest Home Improvement Association, the Cornell Student Assembly and the Town of Ithaca Conservation Board. The Cornell Greens, the Cornell Employee Assembly, the Southern Tier Veterinary Medicine Association, Cornell United Progressives and the Tompkins County SPCA were involved earlier but bowed out because they said others on the committee adequately represented their interests.

The committee's recommendation will be forwarded to the faculty of the College of Veterinary Medicine, the Cornell administration and the State University Construction Fund. Permitting and operational approval would come from the State Department of Environmental Conservation and the State Department of Health.

The community will remain involved in an advisory capacity as Cornell moves toward implementing the recommendation.