Empty nitrous oxide cylinders in the waste are life-threatening and cause millions of euros in damage. That’s what waste processors say, and they are therefore sounding the alarm and calling on politicians to do something about it. Since the abolition of the deposit on nitrous oxide cylinders at the beginning of this year, the cylinders are increasingly ending up in nature and in regular waste containers. But that is dangerous because if they end up in the incinerator they often explode.
The amount of garbage annually is almost 400,000 tons, it is impossible to find the empty nitrous oxide cylinders in there. “We try to pay attention to them, but almost all of them end up in the oven,” says Casper Stuart of waste processor Prezero in Roosendaal. He is responsible for safety in and around the waste incineration plant.
“The combination of fire and high pressure causes them to explode,” he explains. “That is a very loud bang. We find the material more than 30 meters high in the chimney. They are like fragmentation bombs.”
“The safety of employees is at stake.”
And that is not without consequences. According to Jeroen Stein of the united waste companies, the damage caused by exploding nitrous oxide cylinders has already amounted to 40 million euros. “Since nitrous oxide was placed on List II of the Opium Act at the beginning of this year, explosions in waste processing plants have become much more common. The safety of our employees is seriously at risk,” says Jeroen. Moreover, the installation sometimes comes to a standstill after an explosion, which also costs a lot of money.
According to Stein, 250,000 cylinders have arrived at waste processing companies in the Netherlands since the beginning of this year and there have been about 10,000 explosions. The few cylinders that Prezero’s men managed to intercept are in a special room. “These go to Waalwijk, where they can process the nitrous oxide cylinders.”
But the nitrous oxide cylinders are not only dangerous if they end up in an incinerator. They can also explode in a garbage truck. When a nitrous oxide cylinder enters the cracking press, it explodes. That is not good for the vehicle and not for the employees standing on the back of the garbage truck.
“When there was still a deposit, we almost never saw one.”
Casper therefore advocates the return of the deposit on the cylinder. “There used to be a thirty euro deposit on a nitrous oxide cylinder, but we hardly ever saw one at that time,” he says. “Now we find dozens of them in the ash that remains after combustion. And those are only the cylinders that did not explode.”
The united waste processors see a direct relationship between the abolition of the deposit and the explosions. In addition to the return of the deposit, the sector would like more money from the government to take measures against exploding cylinders. “Maybe there should be an increase in the waste tax due to the nitrous oxide problem,” thinks Jeroen Stein.
In an initial response, the government writes that it understands the urgency of the problem. That is why the government has told the waste sector to see whether financial compensation is possible.
