A bleak picture for Sub Area 3 (22 municipalities of the Umbrian Valley and Valnerina) that emerges from reading the data published by ARPA Umbria relating to the separate collections of the 4th Quarter of 2023. The definitive annual data certified by the Region will be released at the beginning of the summer as as usual, but it is already possible to make the first final considerations of a year which for Valle Umbra Servizi SPA was yet another in which there was no improvement. In fact, Sub Area 3 stands at an average of 57%, or 9 points below the regional one which however remains stable. Perhaps the annual data will shift by a few percentage points, but in any case the quarterly data are the truly indicative ones to evaluate whether any changes in the service have produced quantitative results.
Spoletowhich in 2022 had just surpassed Foligno with an annual 62%, confirms the same percentage in the fourth quarter, without any advancement and improvement. Same thing for the municipality of Foligno which has remained stuck at 60% for yearsdot plus dot minus.
Even the other municipalities do not shine: Nocera with 30% and Montefalco with 44% confirm the usual delays, despite some timid signs of improvement. Spello stands at 61%, Bevagna at 58.8% and Trevi, once the excellence of the Umbrian Valley, is suddenly worsening (64% in the fourth quarter).
In Valnerina we go from the miserable 3% of Poggiodomo, to 51% of Santa Anatolia but even this without improvements.
“How is this possible – they ask Legambiente Foligno and Legambiente Spoleto – than in a company entirely controlled by member municipalitiesthese have neither individually nor collectively the possibility of impact the company’s strategic choices?”
“Three years ago, VUS announced an industrial plan, never made public to citizens and associations, – continue the two Legambiente circles – which should have included a remodulation of services which evidently either were not implemented or were insufficient, if not bankrupt.”
The remodulation, both in Foligno and Spoleto, concerned only the collection calendar which was standardized on 15-day collections both for condominiums with 40-litre buckets and in single houses with 240-litre bins. A solution that facilitated the service but certainly did not increase collection performance and dissatisfied many citizens.
“It is not understandable and above all it is not acceptable this immobility in Valle Umbra and in Valnerina – conclude Legambiente Foligno and Legambiente Spoleto – We need a drastic change of directionwith a coherent and efficient reorganization that involves community involvement. We need measures to reduce waste at source, reuse strategies, localization of separate waste collection, valorisation of secondary materials and implementation of recycling chains. Examples that ensure good management of urban waste with high percentages and good quality of separate collection also exist in Umbria, just copy”.
