The Democratic Party of Laives proposes some improvements to the management of waste collection. “Some good results but there is still a lot to do. Moving the recycling center to the Vurza production area would help but more training is needed”
Let’s be clear, waste management is not an easy task for any administration. Laives is no exception, where people have been searching for the key to the problem for nine years. During Christian Bianchi’s double mandate, in fact, two different councilors took turns, the mayor himself and a delegated municipal councilor. With some positive results, such as the introduction of waste collection, but without, in truth, finding an overall solution. In the Democratic Party, the person who has always followed the issue carefully is the city councilor Dino Gagliardini. “The topic is complex and made up of many aspects: regulatory, environmental, economic, technical and organisational. Any solution or reflection that is not thorough leads nowhere”. Agreed, but a lot depends on how all this reflection is communicated to citizens. “The problems for everyone are how the waste is disposed of and how much you have to pay. When spending money, citizens rightly expect quality and effectiveness. Here the sore notes in Laives were wasted.”
“In nine years only the rude ones are to blame”
Social media speaks clearly: There isn’t a week that goes by that someone doesn’t post one or more difficult situations. “It makes little sense to simplify everything by only blaming rude people or those who throw away rubbish on weekends, as the former mayor uses to say – continues Gagliardini – but the truth is that in nine years neither he nor his collaborators have found a solution. We wonder what led to the much-vaunted excellent relationship with SEAB”. Is this a criticism of the municipal utility? “Hand. We cannot say anything negative about the skills of the employees and the spirit of service but it is completely clear that the ecological islands must be rethought with the planning of appropriate investments. These are fully a political choice and not a technical one, even if lately there are those who tend to consider politics prehistoric with respect to technology. Also because, at least in part, it would be necessary to push for coordination with the Municipality of Bolzano which has similar problems”.
New recycling center in Vurza area
Having said that the status quo, however, there is a need to think in perspective otherwise we are at the same starting point. “Over the next six years, the administration will have to deal thoroughly with this problem. Urban decorum requires it but also the efficiency of the service, the effectiveness of the results and the sustainability of the costs that fall on the pockets of families and businesses”. The results in terms of volumes and percentages were not disastrous. “It’s true, in the last 15 years there has been some success from that point of view, but there is still a lot to do in the ability of users to differentiate correctly. Plastic collection, for example, is still of poor quality and usefulness. We are still waiting for the much announced expansion of the recycling center which also needs to be re-evaluated. Our proposal is still to study its move, if feasible, to the Vurza production area”. The reasons are complex. “A choice that would be useful to obtain the capacity necessary to collect and send for recycling the separated material of a city that produces waste through 8,000 domestic users and around 2,000 productive ones. It would also be strategic to position it in a central position with respect to three inhabited areas of Laives, San Giacomo and Pineta, mitigating the comings and goings of cars that cross Laives to reach via Galizia and the current recycling center.
More training and information
In closing, a cultural reasoning must be made on how to improve awareness on waste separation. “There is no information and training plan on how to differentiate better and produce less waste in general. The collaborations with Ökoinstitut are very positive in the school context, but a large part of the adult population reiterates some old and consolidated wrong habits. Perhaps it would be appropriate to also make use of the collaboration of the permanent education committees which have the aim of training and educating.
