Tell, move, and ponder: those are the three pillars of the day – promoted in the campaign “I choose the right way” – that developed at the same time at the Politeama Theatre in Naples – where Luca Pagliari, journalist, author and writer, illustrated a story of environment and legality together with hundreds of students belonging to the Land of Fires, in collaboration with Legambiente – while a legality relay race, coordinated by UISP and led by journalist Luca Abete, started from Piazza Dante in Caserta and arrived in piazza Trieste e Trento in Naples, where a sports village for the public and information points for citizens were set up.
Today’s mobilization and awareness day places itself within the path started by the Ministry of the Environment together with Ecopneus, with a Protocol for the ELT Extraordinary Collection in the Land of Fires, signed by Naples and Caserta Prefectures and Municipalities, by the Home Office Appointee for the Land of Fires, and by some of Ecopneus Partners, in order to give action to a concrete intervention action in this territory: the collection and recovery of abandoned ELT, removing them from the risk of their use to fuel the terrible phenomenon of toxic fires, due to their long and persistent combustion.
“From the Ecopneus Protocol comes the evidence that it is possible to face the difficult situation in the Land of Fires in an efficient and concrete way. Through this initiative we have started a way to restore hope in this territory, a path to be followed with perseverance, commitment, and concreteness” declared Andrea Orlando, Minister of the Environment, who participated in the stage show in Naples.
“Today we are here to stress our commitment and our attention along this path of legal and environmental recovery: starting next week the Council of Ministers will take care of these areas through a specifically studied action for the territory and its citizens. This answer shows how the State can do its own duty if it wants to”, the Minister concluded
An environment and legality story
On the stage, voices, faces, and witnesses on how it could be possible imagine and build a hope of a different future: a memory of Angelo Vassallo, the Acciaroli Mayor killed by the Mob, Minister Andrea Orlando, Don Maurizio Patriciello, the Scisciano Mayor Edoardo Serpico, the Home Office Appointee for the Land of Fires Donato Cafagna, Ecopneus Managing Director Giovanni Corbetta, together with mention by important artists and writers, but also the voice of the 100 boys from Afragola, who together with Legambiente visited the places where the Protocol is bearing positive results, and an ELT shredding plant, where the correct management of these wastes translates into healthy work and qualified employment.
37 km of sports and legality
Along the 37 km between Caserta and Naples, 100 amateur cyclists members of UISP, Unione Italiana Sport Per tutti (Italian Sports Union for All), took from Municipality to Municipality in the Land of Fires a baton made with ELT rubber; they stopped in Caivano and Aversa, where school children and boys took part in entertainment activities and, once at the Politeama Theatre they handed the baton to Minister of the Environment Orlando; Mr. Orlando received them together with the Naples Municipality representative, Vice Mayor Tommaso Sodano, in an ideal completion of the actions chain and different responsibilities, where everyone is asked to play its role.
The intervention, collection, and recovery network is in motion
A collaboration system among Ecopneus, Municipalities and wastes collection municipality companies – run by the Ministry of the Environment, monitoring and controlling the use of resources and the development of activities – begun the extraordinary ELT collection, started in the last months and which will continue throughout 2014.
“The system is now in motion; – stated Donato Cafagna, Home Office Appointee of the Land of Fires – resources and operative tools are available, now it is up to Municipalities to get started promptly to fully get this unique opportunity for the territory”.
Collections in Naples, at the site in via Montagna Spaccata, continue; over the last weeks an intervention was carried out in Caivano, while on last November 28th were completed the collection operations of over 80.000 End-of-Life Tyres tons from the Scisciano (NA) historical site, after 23 years of abandonment in a private area, exposed to fire risk, despite many attempts by the local Administration to have them removed. To this day, over 1 million tyres have been collected and recycled. Over 2/3 of ELT collected were sent to material recovery, and only 1/3 to energy recovery.
Rubber powder obtained from the treatment of collected ELT – thanks to the Protocol – will be made available free of charge to projects of public use (roads, sports equipments, children playground, etc…) in the joining Municipalities asking for them.
Resources for over 2 million Euro devoted to the Land of Fires by Ecopneus
The funds financing Protocol operations were made available by some of Ecopneus’s Partners 1, funds matured as management surplus before their participation, to which other resources were made available by Ecopneus, in line with the law.
The available resources are estimated to be sufficient to finance interventions that will allow the collection of about 13.000 tons, 8.000 of which already collected in the Region at the 2.000 generation points, with an amount of ELT about 22.000 tons/year.
Giovanni Corbetta, Ecopneus Managing Director stated:
“We are proud to participate with the Ministry of the Environment in this major ethical and social project, in which we put at the serviceof the Land of Fires Municipalities all our ability and efficiency developed over years of activity, allowing us to collect each year over 240.000 ELT tons throughout the national territory”.
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