Brussels waste incinerators have to be taken out of service for several days. It’s no laughing matter. The outages are caused by exploding laughing gas whippets. More and more laughing gas is being used as a drug. As a result more and more whippets are ending up in the rubbish.
Laughing gas is used in the kitchen to put pressure into whipped cream dispensers. It’s also used by dentists to induce sedation, but more and more often laughing gas is being employed as a drug to create a rush.
During the first three weeks of the year the Brussels refuse authority cleared two tons of whippets, the containers in which laughing gas is supplied, off the streets of the Belgian and Flemish capital. It’s especially near night clubs, bars and pubs that refuse collectors have their work cut out for them.
Laughing gas is no innocent substance. It can cause neurological issues that can become chronic following regular abuse. The sale of laughing gas to minors is banned, but it’s still readily available on the net.
Laughing gas whippets are getting larger and larger and consequently increasingly difficult to process. Large whippets can cause a major explosion when they end up in a waste incinerator. The danger is it will be out of service for days. The Brussels refuse agency says it’s already happened on several occasions putting incinerators out of action for 48 hours.
Street cleaners have now been instructed to collect the whippets separately. The content of bin vans is also being inspected though there is a realisation that a more permanent solution is needed.
So far only one similar explosion has occurred at a Flemish incinerator. Damage was limited but there are fears it’s only a matter of time before there is a major incident in Flanders too.
“Too often the whippets end up in regular refuse bags. If you want to remove them, this has to be done by hand. It’s so labour intensive. A greater effort has to be made to prevent whippets from ending up there. We need to stop laughing gas abuse by youngsters” says Nathalie Debast of Flemish Towns and Cities.
The Flemish waste company notes that whippets shouldn’t be chucked in with regular waste but need to be sorted and put into the blue bag. Some whippets should be sorted as dangerous chemical waste or metal waste at the recycle park.