I'm just wondering why the stasi didn't build a large pit somewhere in a land fill, put all the records in it and burn the lot. 16000 bags weighing what 10 kg each is something like 160 tonnes??
For fast emergency destruction of documents, the NSA has developed a procedure https://media.defense.gov/2021/Jul/02/2002755769/-1/-1/0/EME... where paper and oxidizer get layered in a burn barrel. "The ratio which was adopted was 65 pounds of paper for 100 pounds of nitrate" gives you an idea how much extra oxygen is required for proper combustion.
No references - this is just what I remember from that documentary.
Remember the Stasi thought they were the most secure institution in the country. They thought the trouble would pass and they'd still be there.
Sadly, most of those responsible will be gone now. These documents may include neighbours reporting on each other so this has potential for social strife, which is a reason for certain people to delay it. But the children of the late 1980s are already hitting their fifties, let alone any full grown adults, who were either victims or informants.
By the time these bits of paper are reassembled many of the people mentioned in them will be dead. Maybe that's the intention, to leave it until it ceases to be a problem. East Germans who were children in the late 1980s are already getting into their fifties... Many of those responsible will be elderly or on their way out.
In hindsight, that would obviously have been the most efficient, but it needs trust and cooperation between regional Stasi offices to give up control of their records.
But The Stasi did not have foresight, was not efficient, did not have cooperation internally. (If they had all those attributes things may have gone differently. So it’s good they were still incompetent at the end)