2023-12-26 06:36:00
A chimney lets out thick plumes of condensation along the canal in Haren. At the origin of these, three ovens which rotate at 900 degrees to burn the 1,500 tonnes of waste that the people of Brussels throw away every day via white or public bins. This immense factory made of iron staircases, sheet metal plates and rubber tracks alone produces the energy necessary for the Docks, the greenhouses and the Palais de Laeken as well as a sawmill, all not far from there. The problem is that all this mechanics harshly monitored by Brussels Energy is today threatened by a substance that has been all the rage for several months, even years: nitrous oxide.
This gas with its hilarious effects was previously purchased in small cartridges (like we see on kitchen siphons), but as consumption has become “democratized”, the substance is now packaged in canisters of several liters in volume. When these are left on the public highway or in trash cans and then transported to the ovens, they explode so powerfully that the detonation can cause the oven to shut down. A situation which occurred 38 times in 2022, twice as many as in 2021. Nearly 60 tonnes of cylinders passed through Haren. “And when we stop the oven, we have to clean or replace its grill, it’s a minimum of two days of work, it’s already increased to ten days,” calculates Lieve De Witte, head of maintenance at Bruxelles-Energie, and therefore on a daily basis on the site. Let’s imagine that one oven is under maintenance, and the other two are shut down following an explosion, Brussels would then find itself without a means of disposing of its waste. “This is a huge health risk. In addition, the heating network for the Docks and the greenhouses would also be out of service.”
In the oven, the residual nitrous oxide in the cylinder explodes, tearing up everything in its path. Including the oven rack. ©Jean Luc FLEMAL
Tri manual
As the situation cannot continue any longer, Bruxelles-Propreté has taken measures. “We have identified risk areas, where we find more laughing gas canisters, such as campuses, for example. We first pass the trash cans under a magnet but some canisters are not magnetized. So we still have to carry out manual sorting, a very laborious task, but we have no choice.” The values are astronomical: 250 tonnes of garbage bags per day are inspected by hand by agents.
But screening agents, even meticulously, will not be enough. Last December 15, the government approved a bill banning the transport and sale of nitrous oxide. “The problem is that if the police intercept a person selling or transporting protoxide, a long investigation begins,” says Adel Lassouli, spokesperson for Bruxelles Propreté. In the Netherlands, the burden of proof is on the person being checked, it’s more efficient.”
As a reminder, it is preferable to leave the canisters of protoxide next to the public trash cans, or to return them to the recycling park.
1703637455
#tonnes #laughing #gas #canisters #Brussels #incinerator #huge #health #risk
