Luxembourgers are not that great at recycling explosives

Recycling centres in Luxembourg report finding World War II live ammunition and grenades in the trash

Recycling can be tricky. There are so many things people need to remember: which packaging needs washing, separating paper from plastic, umbrellas cannot be recycled...but most of all, do not, under any circumstances, put World War II-era bombs in the metal bins!

According to a statement by the Luxembourg Environmental Administration in recent years recycling centres have been reporting more and more cases of grenades, tank mines and various other forms of ammunition or explosives finding their way into the waste bins.

'Wishful recycling' taken to the next level

‘Wishful recycling’ is a term recycling companies in the US use to describe people who throw away questionable items. People who, when in doubt, put things, such as Styrofoam, batteries, PVC or umbrellas in the bin, on the off-chance companies might be able to do something with it. Of course, companies cannot do anything and this ends up spoiling the trash, causing more harm than good.

In this case, however, we are talking about bombs.

One person brought explosive capsules used to derail trains to a recycling centre. Another brought a bag full of chemicals and it later turned out that the bag had a bottle of nitro-glycerine inside. Over the years, recycling centres have reported finding grenades, anti-tank mines and several other types of ammunition.

The government is adamant that this is not a case of malicious intent, rather, it is a case of uninformed citizens trying to dispose of tricky trash. Likely, people thought that after 80 years of sitting in the ground, these explosives would be damaged and unable to detonate.

However, usually, the case is that they are even more volatile as the protective casings start to deteriorate and affect the chemical composition on the interior.

The government explained that not all people realise the risk of an explosion associated with transporting such cargo. They also reminded citizens that when they stumble upon leftover ammunition, grenades or explosives, they should contact the army’s demining service to avoid the risk of an accidental detonation.

The truth is that after 80 years, there is still a considerable amount of World War II ammunitions, mines and explosives buried in Luxembourg. Just last week, a machine caught fire in the woods near Merscheid after a buried explosive detonated. Luckily, there were no injuries.