A truck chasing a car to ram it and push it into a ravine or onto the tracks of an oncoming train. In Italy, the nightmare put on cinema screens by debutant Steven Spielberg in Duel, a film that has become a cult, would have a tragic-comic touch, à la Checco Zalone: the street giant would be loaded with rubbish.
Rather, we should really say "rubbish", because one time out of three that heavy vehicle crammed with smelly leftovers from meals, spoiled food, plastic, shards of glass, dirty cans and whatever else we throw away every day, would have left Lazio. Let's also say from Rome, given the overwhelming preponderance of the capital over the rest of the region (77% of the resident population, if we add tourists...).
This high probability is obtained from the mapping made by REF research laboratory for local public services on the waste treatment and disposal capacity of the Italian regions. From which it emerges that as many as 14 have insufficient capacity to manage all the garbage produced on site and are forced to transport it to those that have excess capacity or even abroad.
Here every day 550 trucks loaded with waste leave for various destinations. In total they make 200 articulated lorries a year. Lined up, they would form a long column from Reggio Calabria to Moscow. So much for Greta, the Green Deal, climate change, particulate matter and the health of Italians. But also their pockets. The lack of facilities, in fact, causes the waste tax to rise.
What are the “rogue” regions who have not equipped themselves with adequate systems, as instead foreseen by the norm that prescribes self-sufficiency in the disposal of waste?
In the lead is Lazio, in fact, which puts 162 trucks on the road every day, i.e. just under 60 a year. Campania follows closely with 142 trucks; and by combining the Campania plant deficit with the Camorra, the spark that ignites the land of fires is struck. In short, another of mafia trafficking arises from one illegality. When writing mafia, Sicily comes to mind, which is a good third in this ranking on the contrary, where the last are the first, not evangelically; distanced, however: "only" 78 trucks a day, 28 thousand a year.
Ma the vice is not exclusive to the south. The regions of the deep north occupy 4th (Veneto), 6th (Piedmont), 7th (Trentino Alto-Adige) and 9th place (Friuli Venezia-Giulia). With a number of trucks that is only apparently much lower, because the population is too. Compared to the inhabitants, the lack of capacity in Trentino-Alto Adige outclasses that of Sicily; that of Friuli Venezia-Giulia follows it.
There is a close relationship between the lack of waste disposal facilities and the cost incurred by households for waste treatment. For a typical family of three, in fact, the most expensive region is Campania, with 447 euros a year, equal to 2,3% of family disposable income, followed by Lazio (383 euros) and Sicily (382). Against the 246 euros of Lombardy (which has a clear surplus of capacity), equal to 0,6% of income.
Veneto, Friuli Venezia-Giulia and, above all, Trentino-Alto Adige hide the cost of their inefficiency from the citizens-taxpayers, because they charge low bills. Thanks to the fact that Lombardy and the homeland borders, beyond which to carry too much waste, are very close. To Gianni Rodari this Italian shame it would certainly have inspired an appendix to the famous game-refrain for children: a loaded vessel arrives, loaded with…
