German customs stops import of artificial grass from Swiss stadium Training canceled: manhole cover causes farce at Formula 1 premiere in Vegas

German authorities have stopped the import of more than 23 tonnes of contaminated artificial grass from the stadium of a Swiss Super League club. Because the relevant import documents were missing, the lawn was returned.

The main customs office in Lörrach announced this on Friday. Contrary to what was stated in the accompanying documents, the transport cargo was classified as waste upon customs clearance at the German-Swiss border. According to customs data, the old artificial grass was scheduled to be taken to Germany for reprocessing.

However, during an inspection, customs officials discovered that the material was significantly contaminated. In addition, the lawn still contained glue residue, plastic and compacted rubber granules. Overall, it was no longer suitable for processing and was classified as waste. Imports were therefore banned by customs based on a decision by the responsible authority.

On September 20, the transport of artificial grass from the neighboring country was checked. Customs did not provide any further information about the football club from whose stadium the material came. It was simply said that it was a “well-known first division football club”. An unnamed Swiss export company was responsible for the transport.

For reasons of environmental and health protection, the import and export of private and commercial waste is intensively controlled, customs emphasizes. There are uniform EU rules that are supplemented by national requirements.

(jam/sda/afp)