Isto é Limpeza por Iain M. Banks, antologizado em O estado da arte .
An alien factory ship's disposal unit is buggy and ends up depositing items randomly on Earth instead of the intended location on the surface of the sun. They eventually reach the attention of Cesare Borges, head of the Industrial Military Combines Corporation (name doubtless no coincidence), who is an over-the-top caricature of a Cold-War-obsessed US politician. What makes the story is the interplay between Earth's befuddled fiddling with the objects and the bureaucratic shitstorm among the aliens once they discover what's happening. There's a nastily funny ending that plays well into Banks's frequent theme of the difficulties of interaction between radically different levels of technology and humanity's hair-trigger instincts. A bit dated due to the strong Cold War sensibility, but lots of fun.
https://www.eyrie.org/~eagle/reviews/books/1-892389-38-X.html