2024-04-30 07:57:38
MERANO. “Merano. The fight against the "wild bag" begins – Merano”>Waste Watcher“, in the Anglophone usage adopted by the municipal administration. Ecological guards, environmental inspectors. Or, more prosaically, waste watchers. Nuances, more or less significant: but they are the new response of the Municipality to the phenomenon of the “wild bag”. They will have to educate and raise awareness, in the first instance. Even fining, when it is necessary: but to do so they will have to make use of the local police. They will arrive soon: there is no precise date yet. «They will mostly go around in pairs, in civilian clothes or in uniform, through the streets and squares of the city to raise awareness of greater caution among citizens and guests who absentmindedly leave or throw waste in the public spaces of the city: i “Waste Watcher” they will be a public control body”: this is how the project is presented by the ASM, by the mayor Dario Dal Medico and by the deputy mayor Katharina Zeller, councilor for the environment.
«Taking the example of the city of Vienna, where they are already an operational reality, the Municipality in synergy with the local police and the ASM is preparing to introduce the figure of Waste Watchers – specifies Zeller -, essentially a team of controllers responsible for monitoring on compliance with the rules established to protect public hygiene and the decorum of public places”.
The previous.
Over a decade ago, a task force made up of personnel who had served in the police force had the task of monitoring the areas with the greatest concentration of illegal waste disposal. The team was dismantled because it did not have the legal documents in order.ppp.
Years and legislatures later, the Municipality and the Municipal Corporation are trying again. «The people assigned to this service, who in a first phase of the project will be identified among the ASM staff, will have to attend a training course, managed by the local police, in legal matters and in the management of conflict situations». They will essentially be volunteers from the municipal inhouse who will be paid overtime. «They will track down those who do not remove their dog’s excrement or throw cigarette butts, packaging material or cans on the ground, but also those who defile street furniture such as benches or play equipment present in public parks» he continues Zeller. «The main objective, in this first phase, will not be to raise fines but to raise awareness among citizens and guests of the issue of cleanliness and decorum of public spaces. Obviously the Waste Watchers will then also have the power to ascertain violations, to identify the transgressors and to report them to the local police who will then draw up the relevant report and raise the appropriate sanctions”. A tweak to the municipal regulations will be needed to implement the project. In recent years, “wild waste” has weighed on the budget of the Municipal Corporation for approximately half a million euros.
In 2023 they were elevated 633 contraventionsi by local police officers who will now find allies. «In Vienna – comments the deputy mayor – this project was started, with excellent results, already in 2008. During our most recent trip to the Austrian capital we had the opportunity to discuss with the local administration and we were able to see that the Waste Watchers contribute significantly to preventing and reducing episodes of waste abandonment. We are confident that their use will have the same effects in Merano too.”
2024-04-30 07:57:38