{"id":4746,"date":"2016-01-15T20:59:34","date_gmt":"2016-01-15T19:59:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/hungary\/?p=4746"},"modified":"2021-12-01T13:27:08","modified_gmt":"2021-12-01T12:27:08","slug":"success-all-toxic-waste-removed-from-illatos-rd-site-of-former-budapest-chemical-works","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/hungary\/blog\/4746\/success-all-toxic-waste-removed-from-illatos-rd-site-of-former-budapest-chemical-works\/","title":{"rendered":"SUCCESS: All toxic waste removed from Illatos Rd site of former Budapest Chemical Works"},"content":{"rendered":"

When we started campaigning for the clean-up of a former chemical plant in April, everyone told us it was a hopeless case. And they were probably right \u2013 except they weren\u2019t!<\/strong><\/p>\n

The site was practically an illegal dumping site\u00a0in the middle of Budapest. Almost 2,500 tons of extremely hazardous materials were stored in appalling conditions. Only a few dozen metres away from residential areas, worn-down and damaged barrels were lying on the bare ground, with often-unidentifiable chemicals seeping into the soil and ground water.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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The Story of the Expert, the Politician and the Journalist<\/strong><\/h3>\n

For years, everyone \u2013\u00a0and by that, I mean really\u00a0everyone \u2013\u00a0<\/i>knew about the problem: the local council, authorities, the government, the former employees of the factory, and of course the people who, over the years, got used to inhaling the sometimes stinky air\u00a0coming from the site. Yet, due to complicated ownership problems and lack of political will, nothing had happened for years. Every now and then, some article popped up here or a local politician held a press conference there, but after a few days of moderate outrage the momentum always died off.<\/p>\n

And then came us.\u00a0<\/strong>In April, a new and agile local councillor approached and invited both\u00a0Gergely Simon, regional toxic expert for Greenpeace Central and Eastern Europe,\u00a0<\/strong>and\u00a0a journalist to visit the site. The journalist published a front page article with shocking pictures \u2013 and bang, the story blew up.<\/p>\n

With the coordinated work of these three determined people, we managed to keep the story on the top of the public agenda for 8 months.<\/strong>\u00a0The Politician lobbied, the Journalist investigated and published regular articles, while we carried out various tests to see if and how the residential areas were affected by the contamination.<\/p>\n

This kept going on and on, until the government couldn’t do anything but take action. As a result, by now all the\u00a02,493 tonnes of toxic waste has been removed and, according to the government:<\/p>\n