Lentini (Syracuse) – The probable closure of the Grotte San Giorgio landfill is 24 hours away. Or at least, according to what was announced by the judicial administrators of Sicula Trasporti, from tomorrow and considering the reduced handling spaces, it will be necessary to reduce the quantities of waste. This would mean that the entire garbage system in Sicily could go haywire. Because, so far, there is no news on the convening of a new conference of services through which the Region should communicate to the municipalities concerned, Lentini in the lead, whether or not it will grant the extension of the landfill. At stake, now, there is precisely the issue of expansion, despite the contrary opinion of the municipal council of Lentini, despite the popular petition sent to the offices of the Region with 5 thousand signatures of citizens, despite the unanimous no of the whole territory, decided to go forward to counter the expansion of the landfill and the construction of other plants in the area.
«An alternative waste plan is needed to deal with the emergency that has lasted for 20 years – declared the mayor Saverio Bosco during the last meeting which took place in Palermo in the presence of the president Nello Musumeci -. The Region now needs to do in a few weeks what it has not been able to do in 20 years ”. During the summit – which was also attended by the mayors of Carlentini, Giuseppe Stefio, and of Francofonte, Daniele Lentini, there was also talk of the hypothesis of a waste-to-energy plant. «We are not against – continued the mayor Bosco – but it is clear that in our territory we will not allow other plants linked to the waste supply chain to be welcomed. We hope that the President of the Region will take charge of our suffering, since he himself has defined the extension of Grotte San Giorgio a “monument to shame”. From now on, nothing must be abandoned on our territory ».
The serious problem is now on the table of the new regional councilor for the branch, Daniela Baglieri, which in recent days has been confronted with the general manager of the waste department to try to identify possible solutions to the problem. At Palazzo d’Orleans the race is against time to avoid having to transfer a large part of Sicilian waste to other regions or even abroad. This hypothesis has been circulating for years, but which has always ended with a stalemate, perhaps due to the fear of seeing the costs that fall on the municipalities concerned rise. The Sicula Trasporti company has been under seizure since last June. According to the Prosecutor of Etna, the company was at the center of a systematic illegal disposal of municipal solid waste from over 200 Sicilian municipalities. In the first days of March, when the convocation of a new conference of services was awaited, the note of the judicial administrators of Sicula Trasporti fell on the tables of the mayors with which it was communicated that the landfill for non-hazardous solid urban waste would reach its maximum capacity in the first week of May. Result: the suspension of contributions starting from tomorrow.
Meanwhile, yesterday morning the judicial administrators of Sicula Trasporti they sent a note to the municipalities on the times linked to the assignment for the Easter holidays. According to the communication, signed by the technical director Marco Morabito, the plant will be closed on Sunday 4 April while on Monday it will be open only from 5 to 10 in the morning.