Legambiente, Naples black jersey for waste abandoned on the street

Legambiente, Naples Black Jersey for waste abandoned on the street. The primacy of the San Giovanni neighborhood followed by Miano and Gianturco

Let's Clean Up the World, the largest environmental volunteer campaign on September 24, 25 and 26 with the aim of cleaning up the streets, parks, gardens, squares, rivers and beaches of cities.

Just a minute of walking through the streets of our cities is enough to photograph the other side of the health emergency. In fact, in the capital cities of Campania, every minute we encounter on our streets, on average, 3,4 pieces of waste related to the pandemic crisis, including wipes, masks, gloves. Specifically, every minute we walk through our cities we come across 1,1 masks and 2,2 wipes. It takes just under 8 minutes to come across an abandoned glove and just under 11 minutes to encounter other waste related to the pandemic crisis (such as packaging materials for masks and gels, etc.). A total of 680 pieces of waste related to the pandemic crisis have been identified, on average 45 pieces of waste for every kilometer of city travel. The most present waste were hand hygiene wipes (419 equal to 61,6% of the total) with an average value of 27,9 wipes for each kilometer of travel, followed by masks (218 equal to 32,1% of the total) with an average value of 14,5 masks for each kilometer and gloves (25 equal to 3,7% of the total) with an average value of 1,7 for each kilometer. The other types of waste such as mask or sanitizing gel packaging close, which together represent 2,6% of the total waste with an average value of 1,2 for each kilometer. Among the abandoned masks, the most present type is certainly the surgical type, which characterizes 88,5% of the total masks identified, followed by those of the FFP2/FFP3 type equal to 10,6% and finally those made of cloth equal to 0,9% of the total.

The extent of the phenomenon of abandonment of medical waste, polluting for health and the environment, on the street was photographed by Legambiente Campania through a Citizen Science action that involved citizens and volunteers in the first investigation into waste, directly or indirectly linked to the reduction of the spread of covid, dispersed and abandoned in our city streets. 15 km of city route were investigated 1 in the municipality of Avellino, 1 for Benevento and 1 for Caserta, 10 in the city of Naples and 2 for Salerno from May, June and September 2021.

Legambiente has developed a standard investigation protocol that included, in a 1 km long route in our cities, the counting of all waste related to the current pandemic crisis. The investigation, carried out in the provincial capitals of Campania, therefore saw the identification and cataloging, in the various city transects, of protective devices such as surgical masks, cloth masks, FFP2 / FF3 type and gloves but also of other types of waste that had a close link with the ongoing health crisis, such as hand hygiene wipes, sanitizing gel containers, the external packaging of masks.

“It seems that we have already forgotten everything that has happened in this last year. Our habits - comments Mariateresa Imparato, president of Legambiente Campania - can have a huge impact and this virus is demonstrating it. Protective devices such as masks (surgical, FFP2 / 3 and community) and gloves, essential for our and for the protection of others, also represent a more serious environmental and health problem than we think when they are not disposed of correctly. Masks, gloves and wipes are made with multiple plastic fibers, which can remain in the environment for decades contributing to the formation of micro and nano plastics. It is important to remind everyone that protective devices must be correctly disposed of in the unsorted fraction and must absolutely not be dispersed in the environment. Often the people - continues Imparato - who abandon these objects today are the same people who previously abandoned other waste on the street without any respect for health or the environment. Of course today, given the type of potentially infected waste, this attitude is even more serious. However, a fundamental role also falls to administrators who must intensify and invest in awareness campaigns on the correct methods of disposal of medical materials and at the same time not only issue ordinances that provide fines for those who throw masks and gloves on the ground but also apply them with sanctions. As Legambiente we will do our part with Puliamo il mondo, the largest environmental volunteer campaign that will take place on September 24, 25 and 26 with the aim of cleaning up the streets, parks, gardens, squares, rivers and beaches of the cities. We launch an appeal to municipalities and citizens to join and participate to protect the territory"

Among the city streets investigated in the capital of Naples, the black mark for municipality 6 in the San Giovanni a Teduccio district, is the one in which the highest number of wastes was identified, as many as 128, with an average of 9,6 covid wastes for every minute of road traveled, followed by the road of municipality 7 in the Miano district, with as many as 110 wastes, with an average of 8,2 covid wastes for every minute of road traveled, followed by the road of Naples in municipality 4 in the Gianturco district, with 107 wastes and an average of 8 covid wastes per minute. It is followed by municipality 8 in the Piscinola district with 82 wastes (6,1 for every minute of travel), Naples with municipality 10 in the Fuorigrotta district with 77 wastes (5,8 every minute) Naples with municipality 3 in the Stella district with 34 wastes (2,5 every minute), Naples with municipality 9 in the Soccavo district with 31 wastes (2,3 every minute). The streets with the least waste abandonment are located in Vomero, Chiaia and the historic center: with municipality 5 in the Vomero district with 14 wastes (1 every minute), Naples with municipality 1 in the Chiaia district with 13 wastes (1 every minute) and finally Naples with municipality 2 in the historic center with 4 wastes (0,3 every minute)

In the other provincial capitals we find Avellino with 49 (3,7 every minute), Salerno with 11 waste items (0,8 every minute), Benevento with 8 waste items (0,6 every minute), Salerno again towards the seafront and Caserta, both with 6 waste items (0,4 every minute).