In France, nitrous oxide is often used as a party drug. This is not exactly healthy and is increasingly becoming a safety problem – when nitrous oxide containers are carelessly thrown in the garbage.
Nitrous oxide has become particularly popular in France during the corona pandemic. A dangerous trend – and not just for health. The gas and its container are becoming more and more a safety risk, which causes enormous costs.
Because cartridges and bottles of laughing gas, which is used as a party drug, are increasingly causing problems in French waste incineration plants, as is now being discussed in the country’s media. There are always explosions in the incinerators when the incompletely emptied containers are carelessly disposed of with the household waste, reported the newspaper “Le Parisien”.
Laughing gas is also used to froth spray cream
The consumption of nitrous oxide is not a new phenomenon in France, reports the “Deutschlandfunk”. The cartridges are easy to buy – they are used, among other things, for spray cream.
Laughing gas or nitrous oxide is colorless and smells sweet. It is used in medicine and industry. It has been known since the mid-19th century as an agent that numbs pain during dental treatments. In addition, laughing gas is also used as a propellant in spray cans – and also as a foaming agent in cream dispenser capsules.
Extensive work is necessary in the waste incineration plants if cartridges have exploded: For repairs, the ovens would have to be shut down, said several operators of waste incineration plants to “Le Parisien”. Such an operational stop alone would cost 50,000 euros. Under normal circumstances, the systems are only taken out of service once a year for maintenance lasting several weeks.
Many containers end up carelessly in the garbage
Laughing gas has been abused as a party drug for years, the effect only lasts for a short time, but the health risks are enormous. Especially during the Corona lockdown, the consumption of nitrous oxide in France apparently increased, the waste incinerators concluded from the accumulated problems with empty bottles in the incinerators during this time.
Dozens of bottles were also discovered in the mountains of rubbish. Aside from the health risks, the waste incinerators appealed to dispose of the nitrous oxide containers adequately. Chronic consumption can lead to nerve damage and degeneration of the spinal cord, neurologists warn.
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