150 illegal dumps, there are Brandenburg, East of Berlin, of some 62,000 tonnes of waste stored on a property. The Problem: responsibilities.

Illegal garbage dump in Brandenburg photo: taz

The B1 Federal road in the state of Brandenburg separates worlds. It runs between single-family houses, neat clipped hedges and lush green lawns on one side, mountains of car tyres, construction waste and useless Household items on the other. The residents of the village of Fredersdorf bird village to the East of Berlin, in direct proximity to an illegal waste storage: Approximately 62,000 tons of waste in the camps on a private plot of land on the outskirts of town, right in front of the gates of the capital. The number comes from a report by the state office for the environment, which is present in the taz. 62.000 tons, equal to the weight of more than 200 aircraft of the type Airbus A380.

In June 2019, and this was only in Brandenburg, about 150 illegal waste deposits, estimates, Axel Steffen, head of the Department of the environment, climate protection and sustainability in the Brandenburg Ministry of the environment. This is not a two -, three plastic bags on the edge of the forest.

Illegal waste storage, the covered means tons of waste, the scraps of large areas with colorful Plastic, black slag, or dusty rubble. And it will be more Alone, between July 2018 and June 2019, the state government, were added, according to a reply to a minor Interpellation in the Brandenburg state Parliament, eight new dumps.

After the turn of the East was the scene of a true trash boom. What was before is of no value, suddenly has appeared as a lucrative. The combination of the unused area, a low population density, as well as the proximity to Berlin have specifically made Brandenburg attractive for the waste industry, says Steffen. In the new länder, the waste storage grew – and with them, the shady machinations of many operators.

Some of the garbage mountains of bad planning created simply for entrepreneurs: The operator of garbage dumps, verkalkulierten that went bankrupt and left the back accumulated garbage. Many of the illegal waste, but a Remnant are heaps of dubious transactions. The waste gate valve operated, often even officially a waste facility, but more trash than you could – or garbage that was not allowed for your system.

Elsewhere lacked from the outset the permission for a landfill site and the waste was simply dumped into the nearest pit. The profits from the "disposal" of the waste disappeared into private pockets, while the waste is still in slumber today on the illegal dumps. The Federal government, the Federal environment Agency, do not know how many illegal garbage mountains, in Germany there is a total of. And yet, it is not clear that the phenomenon occurs only long in Brandenburg or East Germany. Also in other Federal States, the authorities initiated dumps illegal waste.

The Problem: often, it is hardly possible to make the perpetrators to find. So also in the case of the pile of Fredersdorf-Vogelsdorf. Although the terrain over the years, appearing in several Ads for illegal handling of waste and unauthorised operation of a waste treatment plant, could not be cleared up today finally, who is responsible for the illegal dump.

the business with the garbage many of the parties Involved: After the reunification, a private Investor bought the old LPG area and leased the terrain or at least parts of it successively to three different waste management and recycling companies: until 1999, the ABS Recycling GmbH until 2002, the VRZ bird dorfer Recycling center GmbH and, finally, to the firm Of Stubbe router UG. You have to ask the owner and former managing Director, yet to be found, to push all blame each other for the metre-high mountains of garbage – only to have been it wants to be nobody.

it is also Unclear how dangerous the waste for humans and nature. The company Horn & Müller, which was commissioned by the Ministry for the environment Brandenburg to storage illegal Garbage to see in Berlin, came in 2015 to the conclusion that the deposits of "no acute risks" for the "protection goods water, soil, air and human," to go out. A sentence later, the report mentioned but is a Queenbet specific risk due to asbestos and artificial mineral fibres, the store is open on the site. The tiny and durable fibers to increase the risk for lung cancer.

Add to that the mountains of garbage already several times caught fire, and therefore a concrete risk for the people in your surroundings. The state office for the environment explained on request: The "mere storage" of asbestos is no reason that the authority would have to intervene and discard the Material.

The Land of feels not obliged to vacate the premises. The municipality, in turn, could not meet the costs for the disposal of garbage alone, says the mayor of the Brandenburg municipality, Thomas warrior, in may 2019. The ABS GmbH and the TCC GmbH are already broke and can no longer be asked, therefore, to the cashier.

In the year 2017, the owner of the site via administrative procedure was required to eliminate the waste completely. But before it could come so far, presented in July 2018, suddenly, an Investor, wanted to acquire the plot of land, including the surface area of 62,000 tons of waste.

"I don't know who buys this trash": This, says the mayor, warrior, was his first reaction when he learned of the interested parties. But actually: The Sorbus GmbH, which has declared the remediation of Contaminated sites to their business model, bought the land and declared himself ready to eliminate the waste completely. So, it is a response of the Brandenburg state government to a minor Interpellation in the Parliament, has an estimated price of 19 million euros.

Back in the company get wool this cost by providing a waste treatment facility building on the Site, explains managing Director Patrick Reissner during a call in June 2019. But the Plan failed in September 2019 at the municipal Council of the village of Fredersdorf-Vogelsdorf. There have already been two Attempts by two other companies to clean the area with treatment plants, explains Ralf Haida, community representatives and the Chairman of the Nabu-mobile bands in the village of Fredersdorf-Vogelsdorf. Both were failed. "That's why we fear there's a third Disaster," he says of taz.

Although the site is located within the jurisdiction of the state office for the environment. However, there is no one to control the action on the site regularly, says Haida. The Ministry of environment and its subordinate authority, the state office for the environment, defend themselves against the allegations. Very probably, you have knowledge about the number and potential danger of the dumps, a very well-you have control of the deposits.

often, it is hardly possible to make the 'polluter pays' find

Benjamin Raschke, Green Deputy in the Brandenburg state Parliament, observed for years, the illegal garbage dumps in their state. He says the lack of staff at the competent authorities, prosecutors and the courts meant that Deals would be negotiated and 'polluter pays' with trivial penalties could get away. Both the Brandenburg environment - as well as the Ministry of justice confirmed that the Problem of the staffing be known. In both cases, wool, or you've already started, the staff increase.

't make it to the country to get to the waste dilemma in the handle, there will always be more expensive for the taxpayers, behind the garbage tractors to clean up. Because if the illegal waste mountains only a risk for groundwater, soil and air, must cost the public sector ran and the. The Ministry of the environment has now established a separate budget item for the illegal waste storage,

2.4 million euros was provided for it, it was in June 2019. The Ministry wanted to clear out all the waste storage in the state of Brandenburg, "under-500 million Euro would not be the one to make", says Axel Steffen from the Brandenburg Ministry of the environment. The General public, criticised Ralf Haida, had to pay for it, that a few have enriched themselves in the garbage business. "Profits are privatized, spending, nationalize – I tell it to."