Acerra's Waste-to-Energy Plant Expansion Cancelled: Campania Moves Towards Greener Policies

The fourth line of the Acerra waste-to-energy plant is not just suspended, it's cancelled. It will not happen. And Acerra is declared a saturated zone, so it will not accept any other waste treatment plants. This was stated by the president of the Campania Region, Vincenzo De Luca, speaking at a meeting at the Teatro Italia in Acerra (Naples), together with the regional councilor Vittoria Lettieri, daughter of the president of the local City Council. "I came here to tell you so you would believe it - De Luca added - there will be costs, because the plant is 15 years old and needs maintenance. But we have decided that there will not be a fourth line, just as there will not be other waste treatment plants. You have already given enough." "In a year and a half, we will have created one of the most advanced regions in Italy, which is why we talk about a green region, which is at the forefront of environmental policies. Lombardy has nine waste-to-energy plants, we have only one, but we have achieved the same result, with the integrated waste cycle and returning an image that is the exact opposite of a few years ago, when we were in newspapers all over the world with pictures of waste and the Camorra," added De Luca, emphasizing that he had removed most of the eco-bales found at his inauguration from the territories. The governor announced that the works for the creation of composting sites in various cities of Campania will soon be completed, thus reducing other costs for the transfer of organic waste to other regions. The non-realization of the fourth line of the waste-to-energy plant, which "was supposed to prevent waste accumulation during maintenance stops," will entail other costs for the Region. "This year the contract for the management of the plant expires - he continued - and in the new tender we have provided that whoever will manage the waste-to-energy plant, will also have to take care of the hundred thousand tons of waste that will accumulate during the maintenance stops of the lines and take them out of the region." "We welcome with absolute joy what declared today in Acerra by the President of the Regional Government of Campania, Vincenzo De Luca, who, in respect of the city, emphasized that any hypothesis of a fourth combustion line of the waste-to-energy plant is definitively shelved," said the mayor of Acerra Tito d'Errico "An extremely important assessment in line with the requests of the municipal administration and the entire local community, which underlines how fundamental institutional synergy is between those who have the responsibility to govern the territories. The further confirmation of the Region's orientation not to authorize more special waste treatment plants on our territory, then, responds to the priority need already identified by the city council of Acerra in the request sent to the Metropolitan City, the body responsible for identifying saturated zones according to the criteria established by the same Region."