Lower Austria Landfill: Possibly Illegal Waste Dumping on a Large Scale
The landfill was transferred from the city of St. Pölten to the new owner in 2019. Immediately afterwards, a "large-scale reconstruction" began, Greenpeace announced in a press release. "Tens of thousands of tons of landfill material were excavated and transported." There is suspicion that the waste was not relocated in accordance with the law, possibly to a less protected construction waste landfill. In the decades of public use, on the other hand, "only minimal earth movements were visible and the flow of material required for disposal was relatively constant," it was said.
Lower Austria does not assume a "short-term logistics error"
So far, the entire dumping area of the current operator has been investigated, said Leopold Schalhas, head of the Department of Environmental and Plant Law of Lower Austria, in response to an APA inquiry. Specifically, 22 six-meter-deep trenches were made and sampled on a two-hectare area. The company had justified itself after the closure of the landfill following an unannounced inspection due to Greenpeace indications in December, according to ORF, that the amounts of waste had arisen due to lack of capacity after the September flood. Schalhas doubts this: "We do not assume a short-term logistics error." If the investigations reveal violations, appropriate procedures would be initiated.
Greenpeace has now identified four new suspected areas for incorrect disposal based on aerial and satellite images from 2007 to 2024. The authorities were asked to approximately double the current search radius. In addition, the depth should be extended. It was also demanded to examine the landfill using archaeological soil exploration methods such as ground radar. "The aerial images suggest that the incorrect disposal goes back much longer and has a much larger extent than previously assumed," said Stefan Stadler, spokesman for the investigative team at Greenpeace in Austria: "Apparently a system was established that deliberately circumvented regulations and brought in profits in the millions."
Greenpeace demands new control system for landfills
The fact that systematic incorrect disposal is apparently possible over years without regulatory control bodies noticing anything "is deeply alarming," Stadler said. He saw Governor Johanna Mikl-Leitner (ÖVP) as responsible to intervene and provide clarification. Furthermore, a new control system for landfills was demanded with unannounced, regular checks by changing audit teams from other federal states and a publicly accessible documentation of all control results.
(APA/Red.)
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