The first shipment of 88 barrels filled mostly with antiquidated, toxic methanole, were delivered from Skopje’s defunct chemical plant OHIS to Switzerland earlier this month.

These dangerous chemicals are going to be disposed off in the Valorec plant in Basel, the Environment Ministry said. OHIS stopped working shortly after the fall of Communism, and many rusty containers full of chemicals used to produce textiles or detergents were left unempited. Recently a leak during the cleaning of one of these containers caused a panic in the densely populated part of Skopje where the huge factory complex is located.

There are more than 30 tons of dangerous chemicals that are slated for removal.