The consequences of the fire at an illegal tire warehouse in Senftenberg, from which 3.000 tons of burned rubber remained, were felt for a long time. Local residents struggled with sore throats, headaches and nausea, as well as the lingering stench. After the fire had been extinguished, the State Environment Agency immediately commissioned an expert opinion in order to be able to assess any risk to the soil and groundwater from the residues of the fire.
Old tires were shredded on the landfill site in 2009 before the operator went bankrupt after just a few months. For this reason, an order from the environmental agency to clear the property in 2011 was not complied with: the municipality would have had to bear the costs for the clearing itself. This is not an isolated case in Brandenburg, where illegal landfills have been a problem since the early 100s. Shady small business owners simply abandoned these landfills when they were no longer profitable. Benjamin Raschke, member of the state parliament for the Greens, estimates the number of these illegal dumps to be well over XNUMX.
After the fire in Senftenberg, there were more and more voices calling for the illegal dumps to be cleared quickly with taxpayers' money. A health and environmental hazard such as that caused by a fire must be prevented. Environment Minister Jörg Vogelsänger (SPD), on the other hand, insists on the polluter pays principle. Before public funds are used, the polluter must be held accountable. It is currently still unclear how the property will continue in Senftenberg.
Source: new-deutschland.de
