Legambiente denounces the failure of separate waste collection in the city, which has worsened even in the first months of 2024 compared to the previous year and points the finger at the Municipality of Taranto, asking it to intervene immediately by switching to “door-to-door” and sanctioning those who do not separate waste waste. The ungenerous numbers come from the regional waste observatory. The separate collection of urban solid waste in the municipality of Taranto, defined by Legambiente as “already unseemly”, manages to worsen, reaching 22.35% (as of 31 March) while 2023 ended with 23.8%. January and March were the worst months, down compared to the previous year. Furthermore, according to Legambiente, the performance of the first quarter is not an episodic event: “just scroll through the annual data to get a clear picture of a failure”.
The decline over the years
In 2020 the percentage of separate waste collection was 25.1%, slightly lower in 2021, then rising to 27.42% in 2022 and then decreasing to 23.8% in 2023. And what if the disappointing performance of the first months were to repeat itself even in the rest of 2024, the worst result of the last five years could be recorded. «Percentages very far not only from the performances of the most virtuous provincial capitals, but also from that minimum limit of 65% long established by Italian legislation and which, in our city, continues to be ignored», says Legambiente.
«Now no more announcements»
The environmentalist association recalls that a year has passed since the need to prepare a new service contract with Kyma Ambiente to be submitted to the City Council for consideration was announced and that to date there is no sign of it. Legambiente asks that it be made known as soon as possible and, with it, timetables and investments that will finally transform the declarations into concrete actions.
«We believe that the adoption of “door to door” throughout the city, taking advantage of a good practice already widely and successfully tested throughout Italy, is the only effective system to guarantee separate waste collection in line with the objective minimum of 65% required by Italian legislation. We also reiterate the need to make those who do not separate pay more and to reward citizens who produce less waste and differentiate better, correctly distributing materials that constitute a usable secondary material and therefore a value. Violators must be penalized and the tariff must be adjusted to the quantity actually delivered of non-recoverable or undifferentiated waste.”
