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A devastating 1999 fire in a tunnel connecting France and Italy was also caused by a truck full of flour and margarine: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mont_Blanc_Tunnel_fire
Wacky stuff. I guess one development since then is the Vacuum Excavator, I think they only started being built in the 90s. So you could send some round to suck up the cheese, but I'm not sure there would be enough capacity in the area as they are a niche tool (for excavating around buried services).
I’m honestly just stuck thinking about that cleanup. Like… hydrovac is great, but how do you clean out a hydrovac truck filled with butter. And after you get it out, then what? In Madison they temporarily stored it in sanitary sewer holding ponds but that’s not a viable final destination. Does it eventually end up at the landfill?!
I guess you would add it a bit at a time to the organic waste stream, at a low enough proportion that it doesn't swamp the system. At least, as long as it's not contaminated with stuff that would rule that out. Then, it probably goes to one of the waste burning power plants.
Butter is mostly animal fat. Any reason it couldn't be sent down the same waste-processing stream as restaurant cooking grease?
Volume presumably, as well as being mixed with whatever byproducts of a burning warehouse.
This is why they never show robovac commercials with butter/grease as demonstration. It's always cereals and rice candy, and stuff like that.
If it were my decision I would have found two gigantic slices of bread and made the world's biggest cheese sandwich - think of the tourism revenue!
Reminds me of a friend who, having watched a documentary on the subject, decided to recreate a custard powder explosion in his student kitchen…
Reminiscent of the Molasses Flood, though that was more tragic. Scale is a double-edged sword. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Molasses_Flood
Also: https://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brunostbrannen
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