Delca is burning in Vicopisano; a little further away, in Livorno, Vinicio Bogi catches fire; a week earlier, a Versalis warehouse in Mantua caught fire. The ritual repeats itself every summer, affecting the plastics recycling industry. Risk management issues, high temperatures, inadequate plant engineering, and so on are always cited, yet these events seem to serve a far more deterministic economic logic.
Delca, for example, is a former ENI subsidiary, which sold its shares to a multinational, which had recently seen the latter divest itself of them, in response to the structural crisis in the recycled plastics sector, which is under attack from competition from virgin plastics produced in China and India (also due to the delocalization of our highly polluting basic chemicals) and sold at prices lower than those of recycled raw materials.Each of these "catastrophic events" causes an environmental disaster. Over more or less extensive and already polluted areas, significant quantities of dust are released, carrying stable organic compounds that form, during condensation, at the temperatures of the fumes and fall over often vast areas of land depending on the orographic configuration, winds, and/or other meteorological agents. Some of these substances (out of a list of several hundred, excluding the metals that volatilize: Cd, Hg, As, Cr, Mb, Mn, Co) fall into the category of so-called "eternal pollutants" because they cannot be digested by enzymatic systems in the environment or in the organic matrix. They are also resistant to physical agents and can enter food cycles. Depending on their polarity (ability to dissolve in water or fat) and long half-lives (half-lives in the body of a single dose, lasting years or decades), persistent pollutants are subject to bioaccumulation (increase in concentrations over time in exposed individuals) and biomagnification (increase in concentration along the food chain).
On these occasions, institutions (usually municipalities) regularly issue ordinances and regulations for potentially exposed individuals, such as restrictions on the consumption and sale of local horticultural products, closing windows and confinement indoors, avoiding outdoor physical activity, and so on. These regulations are equally promptly revoked within a few days, following a standard script, with no reference to the areas of impact, dispersion, and dilution times. All aimed at giving the impression that "everything has passed and gone back to normal." These rituals of "widespread sedation" are increasingly interpreted as a sign of disregard for the possible consequences, a sort of superstitious exorcism, which ultimately supports the thesis that "this is the best of all possible worlds" and a few accidents are part of the game: that's capitalism, baby!
Fortunately, sensibilities are changing, and citizens' committees are increasingly forming to demand clarity, but just as frequently, the "technical" responses from institutional bodies (local health authorities, regional environmental protection agencies, universities) are incomplete and/or insufficient, if not downright reticent. "Lack of resources" is the most common justification, which, even when presented in good faith, cannot dismiss the demands for participation, control, and leadership that communities increasingly generate on their own.
On Saturday, June 13, at the Misericordia in Vicopisano, a group of citizens (including Laudato si' activists) organized a meeting to discuss the consequences of the event; About forty people were present, and at least as many connected via Zoom to the event organized for the evening. Invited speakers included ZeroWaste Italy (Rossano Ercolini, Fabrizio Bertini, Stefano Seghetti), Medicina Democratico (Marco Paganini), TAT Montefoscoli (Sofia Donalisio), and No Vald'Era avvelenata (Antonino Piro). The speakers highlighted concerns about the environment, health, and the institutions' complacency in addressing the problem. Independent investigations of the area were proposed, along with the intention of maintaining a level of organizational surveillance, including a health-related one. The speakers emphasized that the company was not, in effect, a recycling center, but rather a collector of shredded and compressed plastic waste to produce secondary fuel, to be used in cement factories and incinerators. Among the proposals, a moratorium on all incineration plants in Tuscany was relaunched, reflecting a regional desire to expand incineration capacity through the expansion of San Zeno (AR), which has already been completed, the request to expand the Poggibonsi incinerator, and the revamping of the Montale incinerator (PT), which was scheduled to close this year. Not to mention the very recent authorization obtained by Macelloni in Peccioli for the construction of an oxy-combustion plant. The combustion industry remains active and profitable, especially because the exorbitant plant and management costs are still borne by citizens through the TARI (Tax on Waste), despite the "business risk."
Marco P.
https://umanitanova.org/i-roghi-dei-veleni-smaltimento-rifiuti-e-nocivita/
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Source: A-infos-en@ainfos.ca
