“The three of us live in an apartment of about a hundred square metres, last year I paid 250 euros in Tari, this year I will pay 310: 25% more.”
It is one of the many cases that infuriate the citizens of the southern area of Asti. The municipal waste tax increases on average by 7% but paradoxically grows more in the areas where the ASP has already launched the new collection system which, instead, should have decreased it.
From the benches of the City Council, Democratic Party representative Michele Miravalle attacks: «With the old type of collection, i.e. “door to door”, condominium owners benefited from a discount which has now been cancelled. The Asti Tari, although already one of the most expensive in Italy, continues to rise with increases of up to 25%.” With the old method, residents placed their garbage bags in the condominium bins and arranged to move them out of the courtyard on the day the collection truck would pass.
The “service” saved the ASP time and for this it was compensated with a discount. Now, with the “vertical” collection system, citizens deliver their bags to the recycling centers, using personalized magnetic cards. When the “intelligent” bin signals that it is full, the ASP comes to empty it. Less work, fewer vehicles in circulation but a stop to benefits. Miravalle continues: «The discount was canceled completely, without even recognizing that citizens are still asked to display their organic waste bags on the street. In the Council we had proposed to recognize at least a lower discount, without eliminating it completely, but we were not listened to”.
Renato Berzano, managing director of the Participates, explains: «Not all homes had signed up to this type of service, it is wrong to generalize». According to Berzano, there will be savings in the future: «To take advantage of vertical collection, citizens must have a magnetic card which is only given to those who have a Tari user. This is bringing out an “undeclared” situation which in the areas where the controls began stands at 12%”. Berzano continues: «In recent days we have started checks on the “central area” to start the “vertical” collection. Out of 1,200 positions in 600 cases we found problems.” Some are “total tax evaders”, others for example have not communicated their change of residence. “The idea is to apply vertical collection to the entire city by 2026: when everyone pays, everyone will pay less.”
