A Lawrence city employee mowing a trail in east Lawrence Monday morning discovered an apparent meth lab inside a cooler.

Sgt. Trent McKinley, a Lawrence police spokesman, said firefighters and officers believe the cooler contained “remnants of or a potentially operational meth lab or the components there of.” It was in the grass near the Burroughs Creek Trail.

A city employee mowing the drainage ditch noticed the cooler and eventually suffered exposure likely due to inhalation, McKinley said.

The employee became disoriented and ill, but he was able to call for help.

After police and firefighters were called, medics examined the employee at the scene, and he was taken by co-workers to Lawrence Memorial Hospital. McKinley said he was later released from the hospital and resting at home.

Officers from the city-county drug unit were examined the cooler Monday afternoon.

McKinley said later the Kansas Bureau of Investigation sent a private contractor to Lawrence to collect and dispose of the materials.