A chemical reaction probably caused a deadly explosion at a waste treatment plant in Germany, a provisional report has found. Seven people were killed in the blast in the Chempark industrial area of Leverkusen on July 27, and a further 31 were injured. Storage tanks containing chlorinated solvents caught fire in the waste processing centre of the Currenta company, sending a massive plume of black smoke into the air.
On the same day as the Leverkusen plant disaster, the Waimate District Council received a pitch from South Island Resource Recovery Limited to build a waste-to-energy plant in the Waimate District. SIRRL director Kevin Stratful told the council that concerns regarding W-t-E were a thing of the past.