Roberto Fico's words on the urgency of thinking about a decommissioning plan for the Acerra waste-to-energy plant, the only plant of this type in Campania, necessary to close the waste cycle, divide politics and territorial institutions and reopen a debate that intersects with the skirmishes of the electoral campaign for the regional elections.
At the provincial assembly of the M5s, which took place last Sunday in Casoria, the former president of the Chamber relaunched a theme that has always been very popular in a territory that for twenty years has had to face the waste crisis and that still today lives in a precarious balance.
“I feel like we want to say on all the screens in the nation that we are preparing the decommissioning plan for the Acerra incinerator with a cutting-edge regional waste plan, because so many things have not been done,” attacks the president of the Guarantee Committee of the Five Star Movement and possible candidate for the regional elections for the center-left, also launching a jab at the president of the Region, Vincenzo De Luca.
The former mayor of Salerno does not respond and, pressed by journalists on the sidelines of the presentation of the regional law for the family, chooses the path of silence. The one to immediately take a position is the mayor of Naples and president of the Anci, Gaetano Manfredi: "Theoretically, the need for the plant could also be exhausted as the separate waste collection increases. But this is a theory, because there will always be the need for a part of the waste to be incinerated".
The harshest attacks come from the center-right. Forza Italia MP and Undersecretary of the Ministry of Transport, Tullio Ferrante, speaks of a “frighteningly anachronistic” position, highlighting how the plant plays “a fundamental role in ensuring the correct treatment of waste in the context of the circular economy, avoiding illegal disposal and arson with very serious consequences for health and the environment”.
“Closing it,” he adds, “would mean plunging the region into chaos, with cities invaded by fires and waste like in 2007.” Fulvio Martusciello, a member of the Blue MEP and regional coordinator of the party in Campania, is on the same page. “The first statements by the center-left candidate for president of the Region make one shudder,” he emphasizes. “The idea that Naples and Campania could return to 2007, when cities were invaded by waste, will make every citizen of this region reflect.
Shutting down the waste-to-energy plant is a proposal that goes against history. Campania deserves seriousness”. While the parliamentarians and territorial coordinators of the M5s are lining up alongside Fico, no positions have been taken by the PD, which is working with Giuseppe Conte's party to build a progressive coalition in view of the end-of-year elections. The debate also involves the Church and, in particular, the bishop of Acerra and president of the Campania CEI, Antonio Di Donna, who has been fighting alongside the citizens of the so-called Land of Fires for years.
"It is not possible that the entire waste issue focuses only on Acerra and the incinerator - he underlines - this problem must be addressed sooner or later. It is true that at this time it is not possible to decommission the incinerator and we are aware of what could happen if the plant closed today, but it is not right to sacrifice only this territory. We ask at least for a more equitable distribution of waste disposal, involving the entire region".
Article published on 12 February 2025 - 14:58
