BOLZANO. Every day the Municipality offices receive photographs of ecological islands invaded by waste. Bicycle tyres, mattresses, clothes, especially cardboard. But also bottles, toys, furnishing material that has now had its day. You can see everything. Rude people place them in the middle of the sidewalks, as if that proximity to the bells is enough to make them feel at ease with their conscience. Yet, the penalties are very high: 200 euros for private individuals, 400 for companies (in addition to reporting to the Prosecutor’s Office). We are talking about amounts that were doubled a year and a half ago precisely to discourage the rudeness of citizens, commuters and foreigners. Today, the official data on fines for abandoning waste unfortunately speak clearly. There are 1,324, of which 919 with video surveillance in the first nine months of 2024. Numbers which at the end of the year will probably match those of 2023 (2,094 fines, of which 1,432 with video surveillance and 662 without).
Costs for the community
«We receive and respond to daily reports of abandoned waste – explains the municipal councilor Chiara Rabini – around our ecological islands: there are around 400 in total. We fight every day against rudeness and incivility, which are unfortunately on the rise. As a Municipality we try to do everything possible through controls and sanctions while Seab takes care of collecting everything that is abandoned daily by citizens and companies outside the bells. This has a cost to the community of around one million euros per year. Unfortunately, just a few hours after the passage of Seab, new abandonments appear.” Since last year, the Municipality has had 12 well-marked mobile cameras on the islands, as required by law. In addition to the surveillance systems, there are checks by ecological guards who intercept clues in abandoned bags around the islands. There are ten: five officers seconded from the municipal police and the same number of auxiliaries.
«The controls work, they reduce abandonments, but the city has 106,000 inhabitants and many tourists and commuters increase waste», concludes councilor Rabini. The Municipality moves the cameras when it sees that the situation is improving: the offices have a list of priorities and critical issues available also thanks to reports from citizens. In fact, however, the city is increasingly dirtier and the ecological islands too often turn into depots of abandoned bags and objects: from via Torino to via Fago, passing through Don Bosco and Oltrisarco. There is no area that is safe.
The meeting with Seab
Just on Thursday the Environment Commission visited Seab, which collects 53 thousand tonnes of waste of twenty different types. Of these, approximately two thirds come from separate waste collection, a higher percentage than the national average. After the presentation, the Commission visited the recycling center in Mitterhofer Street, which records over 74 thousand visits by citizens and businesses every year. And here the Seab president, Kilian Bedin, requested the commitment of the Municipality to expand the area.