In 1963 the Czechoslovak government had an oily problem: 30,000 cubic metres of toxic waste oil from the former Apollo oil refinery which was destroyed during the Second World War. With no money to safely store it, a decision was made to dump the thousands of tonnes of this carcinogenic waste into a disused quarry in the Bratislava suburb of Devínska Nová Ves.
For more than 50 years the waste sat there, although tests revealed that it had been seeping into and polluting the surrounding soil. If left long enough, the oil could have entered groundwater supplies or the nearby Morava and Danube Rivers. Something had to be done, and with the use of EU funding, it finally was.
Gavin Shoebridge visited the site and spoke to Milan Jambor, Mayor of Devínska Nová Ves, to find out how it looks today, and what was involved in the removal process.
Toxic waste removed from Bratislava at last
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