Czech landfill in Čáslav: Arnika finds toxins in dust, eggs

The environmental group Arnika has published an open letter to AVE CZ, the company that operates the landfill in Čáslav: the organisation says its survey, carried out in August 2026, found dangerous contamination in the soil, dust and chicken eggs around the site, and that the landfill operator dismissed the findings without grounds, citing the opinion of anonymous experts.

What was found in the soil, dust and eggs

Arnika presented the results of its survey on 8 September together with the local initiative “Čáslav for Everyone”, and on 14 September AVE CZ published its rebuttal. According to the organisation, samples were taken only once, but deliberately targeted at the components of the environment that accumulate toxic substances over the long term: settled dust, soil and chicken eggs. The samples were taken during a period when the landfill had not received waste for more than a year, meaning they reflect the site's “quiet” state — even though it remains uncovered.

Since Czech law sets no mandatory limits for settled dust, Arnika compared its results with the indicative guideline values for soil that the Czech Ministry of the Environment set in 2014. The benzo[a]pyrene content in the soil of a garden facing the landfill exceeded the residential guideline value by more than 135 times, while a dust sample from the access road contained more lead than the guideline for industrial-zone soils — and, at the same time, the highest concentrations of PCBs and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons of any sample.

The most serious findings were in the eggs: one sample exceeded the European Union's mandatory limit for indicator PCBs in food, and two out of four exceeded the EU action threshold for dioxin-like PCBs, above which authorities are required to find the source of contamination and take action. According to Arnika, the most likely source is the landfill itself, which also takes in hazardous waste containing these substances; the composition of the contaminants in the dust and eggs matches old industrial mixtures such as “Delor”, once produced in Czechoslovakia, rather than typical pollution from traffic or home heating.

A dispute over farm locations

AVE CZ said the egg sample that exceeded the limit was taken at the farthest of the surveyed farms. Arnika disagrees: according to its data, that farm is located about 800 metres from the landfill site, while the farthest of the surveyed farms is roughly 1.5 kilometres away. The sample that exceeded the limit was taken at a point lying in the direction of the prevailing wind and less sheltered by mature trees. A sample from a farm about 300 metres away did not exceed the limit, but had the second-highest PCB content of all the samples. The spread of dust fallout, the organisation stresses, depends not only on distance but also on wind direction and strength, the height of the landfill body, terrain and obstacles such as trees and buildings.

What the water samples showed

The samples did not exceed hygiene limits for groundwater or surface water, and both household wells met drinking-water requirements at the time of sampling. Even so, Arnika points out that several independent findings point in the same direction: a monitoring well that is not part of the official monitoring network showed traces of PFAS typical of landfill leachate, while waterlogged soil beneath the landfill contained substances characteristic of landfill leachate at concentrations many times higher than at comparable landfills abroad. The organisation is demanding that PFAS measurements in groundwater be added to the official monitoring programme, at least four times a year.

What Arnika is demanding from the landfill operator

In its letter, Arnika sets out seven demands for AVE CZ: disclose the names, qualifications and full findings of the experts the company has consulted; for every disputed conclusion, state what data it is based on and what additional measurements could verify it; propose expanding the landfill's integrated environmental permit to include PFAS monitoring in water and farmland soil around the site, with sample analysis at least four times a year; introduce regular monitoring of air dustiness, including measurements of PM10 and PM2.5, as well as laboratory analysis of settled dust for heavy metals, PCBs and polycyclic hydrocarbons; support the creation of long-term independent monitoring of the area around the landfill together with the town, experts and local residents, with openly published data; disclose what waste — above all hazardous waste containing PCBs — was brought to the landfill, in what volume and when; and reduce dust levels on the access road to the site and in its surroundings.

The analyses for the survey were carried out by accredited laboratories at the State Veterinary Institute and the University of Chemistry and Technology in Prague. The letter was signed by Jindřich Petrlík, head of Arnika's Toxic Substances and Waste programme, and Nikola Jelínek, the organisation's specialist on toxic substances in the environment. In their words, the people of Čáslav deserve reliable data, not a battle of press releases: if everything around the landfill is fine, transparent, expanded monitoring will show it — and if it isn't, it's better to find out as early as possible.

Source: ekolist.cz