A few days before the June administrative elections, the Tuscany he questions himself about his territory, threatened by the expansion of the exterminated areas landfills in Valdera and from Keu, the carcinogenic residue of the tanning sludge of Santa Croce sull’Arno which was buried in at least 60 sites in the provinces of Pisa, Florence and Arezzo. The Region must respond to the company’s request Geoforresponsible for waste collection and recycling, for filling volumes at the Gello site in Pontedera, 24 additional hectares, equal to 2.8 million cubic meters of rubbish.
The Municipality is a partner with Geofor in the dividends obtained from the landfill proceeds. To the opponents of the project, the mayor – assisted by the Pontedera PD secretariat – responds that the perimeter will remain unchanged. But the substance does not change: there are 24 more football fields that will be filled with polluting waste for air and groundwater with leachate.
Another issue to be resolved is that of the landfill Legolithe municipality of Peccioli is the majority shareholder through the Belvedere company.
After the first no from the Region, the company tries again: if successful, it will be 4,330,000 m³ more.
Geofor entrusts to the subsidiary Ecofor Service the task of recycling waste from which to obtain biogas to be sold on the free energy market, which becomes operational this year, and propaganda to obtain customers in the Tuscan market, starting from Valdera where the company is headquartered.
The Palp foundation, through the municipalities of Pontedera, Peccioli and Càscina as an advertising megaphone, deals with the promotion of cultural events, such as exhibitions, presentations of books, films, etc. Ecodays, on the other hand, are the most refined expression of greenwashing to strengthen its hold on the public: on the one hand, families are welcomed to workshops in the landfill that explain the waste cycle, while on the other, renowned writers and journalists are invited to present their books and give conferences.
On the stage of the Era theater local sacred monsters such as Roberto Saviano, Paolo Giordano, Gad Lerner, Beppe Severgnini, Marianna Aprile took turns, while Riccardo Iacona of Presa Diretta stopped by at the Piaggio Museum – the Sacred Temple of Pontedera. In his oratory, Iacona cited greenwashing as widespread practice; which, in such a context, takes on a decided tone mocking.
The Valdera System
Area of the province of Pisa which includes 8 Municipalities, the Valdera it only accounts for 5% in the Tuscan territory, but collects over 50% of the regional rubbish, plus other loads from Lazio, through the partnership between Ecofor and Navarra Spa of Ceccano (FR).
Roberto Cerriformer director of the municipal library of Pontedera who knows the environment well, published a post full of details on the power scheme that ensures a local oligarchy almost control total on the area, through a complex network between the Democratic Party, affiliated mayors, subsidiaries responsible for waste collection and recycling, cultural foundations and sports.
Communicating vessels that have the key junctions in the Municipality of Pontedera and in its subsidiaries, and as a flagship the football team of the same name of which Ecofor is the majority shareholder, and the former mayor Simone Millozzi president. A shrewd strategy – Berlusconi docet – which allows his generals to broaden the boundaries of their conquests, however threatened by KEU, which for seven years has been contaminating the Green Park construction site, which is also right next to the stadium.
The Municipality won the tug of war with the property at the Council of State for the removal, but the toxic soil is still there – except for an initial sampling load – despite the announcements of the mayor Matteo Franconi. 399 trucks will still be needed to complete the quenching and temperingbut it is not just the removal that is worrying, but the transfer of 10,000 tons of earth carcinogenic in a landfill that can accommodate it after making it inert.
And it was precisely during a discussion on local social media that the crux of the issue emerged, in addition to the enormous costs (2 million): the Keu initially had to be taken over by the San Giuliano Terme, property of Asso Costruzioni, the company that had unknowingly spilled it into the subfloor of the Green Park construction site. The poisoned ball then bounced – according to various sources – among other landfills in Varese, Liguria, and then in Puglia, but nothing has yet been defined.
The Consorzio Conciatori di Santa Croce, sent to trial, remains primarily responsible for the contaminationtogether with the manufacturer Lerose affiliated with ‘ndrangheta to whom they entrusted the sludge to be disposed of, and with them the politicians who have accepted their funding for years.
An ancient proverb states: “Whoever breaks it pays, and the pieces are his”. In the Tuscan case, however, those who “break” continue to make money, and leave the (toxic) pieces I’d love that to the others.
And now, less than 20 days before the vote – Saturday 8th and Sunday 9th June, possible run-off on the 23rd – Tuscany and above all Valdera, most involved (with Pontedera in the lead) in the waste issue – toxic and non-toxic – finds itself confused and disoriented in the orientation of the vote. In Pontedera the outgoing mayor is in his second term Matteo Franconi supported by 4 lists (Corri con, Puccinelli per Pontedera, Democratic Party and Progetto Pontedera), the centre-right candidate and current municipal councilor Matteo Bagnoli with 5 lists in support (Lega, Fratelli d’Italia, Forza Italia, Noi Moderati and Pontedera al Centro), Denise Ciampi (Pontedera a Sinistra) and Alberto Andreoli, who presents himself with the Presidio Civico list, are the contenders.
The still unresolved affair of the Keu reclamation, postponed for 7 years, and the indiscriminate expansion of the Gello landfill proposed by Ecofor to the Region, supported by the Municipality, throw a bad light on the current municipal administration, which does not seem to fully understand the gravity of environmental contamination that threatens citizens. And the massive greenwashing propaganda from them on the proclaimed advantages of biogas neglects to highlight the side effects which concern methane emissions, which the collection eliminates in a percentage of less than 60%, as well as emitting sulfur and nitrogen oxide in such quantities as to produce acid rain.
For its part, the opposition does not seem to offer sufficient guarantees for a valid alternative that manages to emancipate the population from the burdensome influence that the waste subsidiaries Geofor, Ecofor and Belvedere exercise on the decisions of the Municipalities, which are in partnership with them. With the aggravating circumstance for the left of having wanted to politicize the environmental issue, instead of forming a common front with the rest of the opposition beyond party labels, since health concerns everyone in administration. Without distinction.
