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The containers were completely wrecked and no longer contained the chemicals it was mainly spilled out and there was nothing in the containers to pump.

Chemicals often need to be uncontaminated to be used for their intended purpose, and being spilled onto the ground would result in all sorts of contamination.

I’ll add that the chemicals were volatile and likely to catch fire while they’re being pumped into containers.

It's likely that burning the chemicals was the safest and most efficient way to dispose of them.

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Kind of like saying "the safest way to avoid a car crash is to denote your vehicle in the driveway"