Story By: Georgina Jadikovska, Sub-Editor: Marija Stojkoska, Agency: Newsflash
German officials have announced they hope to get GBP 5.6 million from a compost company for allegedly contaminating groundwater resources and 2,500 acres of land by using wastepaper as fertiliser not taking into account that it was apparently toxic.
The announcement came from officials in the German city of Rastatt who claim a compost company, which has not been named, committed what has been described as one of Germany’s worst environmental scandals in terms of the volume of land contaminated.
They hope to get EUR 6.5 million (GBP 5.6 million) from the business for the alleged contamination of 2,500 acres of land with perfluorochemicals (PFCs).
PFCs are a group of chemicals used to make fluoropolymer coatings or products that are resistant to heat, oil, stains, grease, and water.
Because they help paper to repel oil and grease they are popular in food packaging such as pizza boxes, sandwich wrappers, and microwave popcorn bags.
Most of them accumulate in some fauna and cannot dissolve in water which increases the risk of problems related to the immune system, developmental, neurobehavioral, liver, endocrine or metabolic toxicity.
Officials are accusing the company, which headquarters are in the town of Baden-Baden, of distributing compost mixed with paper sludge on agricultural fields as fertilizer.
Local media said the sludge contained PFCs, which are not degradable, that made their way into the groundwater and forced a water plant to shut down.
The discovery was made by municipal officials during a routine inspection in 2012.
Rastatt’s water supply Managing Director Olaf Kaspryk claimed the incident was Germany’s largest-ever environmental scandal due to the area that was affected.
However, the defendant has denied the allegations.
The trial was initially set to start tomorrow (26 March) but officials recently decided to exchange further evidence that will be examined by experts behind closed doors.
The decision came after the case garnered large public interest raising fears that large crowds would form during the proceedings.
A spokesperson from the public prosecutor’s office said: “The extraordinarily high level of public interest increases fears that measures against the pandemic would not be respected during the negotiations.”
The trial will be open to the public again once the COVID-19 measures allow it.
Recent local reports revealed the company’s owner had been sentenced to pay EUR 240,000 (GBP 207,000) by the Karlsruhe Administrative Court for damages in the Rastatt district in a previous separate case, but no further information was given.
Since the discovery of the toxic chemicals, officials have invested in a new modern active carbon filter at significant cost which was also included in the multi-million sum.
Kaspryk said some future costs of the plant were also considered in their lawsuit.
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