Tortona, agricultural land without authorizations and illegal waste: the Forestry Carabinieri intervene

Tortona (Alessandria), agricultural land without authorizations and illegal waste: the Forestry Carabinieri intervene.

The Carabinieri of the Forestry Station of Tortona have identified in an area of ​​approximately 8000 mXNUMX, within the buffer zone of the Grue Torrent in the Municipality of Cerreto Grue, works consisting of filling and leveling the agricultural land adjacent to the watercourse where it had been used for filling of the recycled granular mix mixed with demolition waste that had not been treated.

Specifically, it was calculated that approximately 36.000 mXNUMX of this material was used for filling, the accumulation of which along the left orographic bank of the stream itself completely altered its original conformation. 

Unauthorized work

The Carabinieri's investigations started from a document acquisition carried out at the Municipality of Cerreto Grue for the purposes of verifying the possession of the required landscape authorization necessary for the execution of the works; having highlighted the lack of this authorization, the military focused on the type of material that had been used for the filling, verifying whether its use was correct.

Recycled granular mix

The recycled granular mix generally derives from the crushing and screening of materials coming from the structural demolition of buildings, from excavations and demolitions of road superstructures (after the elimination of ferrous residues and residues of light materials and other impurities) and its specific reuse in construction or for road foundations or for environmental recovery must be appropriately authorized by the responsible administrative body. 

In this case, the Forestry Carabinieri, after having ascertained that the owner of the land where this material had been accumulated coincided with the manager of the company that had carried out the work of filling the agricultural land, a type of reuse of the recycled material for which the company was not authorized, they demonstrated that the accumulated material was in fact waste and that the company had the will to get rid of it, proceeding to contest the illicit disposal of waste provided for by the Consolidated Environmental Law.

Added to this was the carrying out of works along the course of the stream without the required landscape authorisation.

Sanctions

Immediately after the crimes were reported, the area affected by the accumulation of waste was subjected to criminal seizure; the company manager has been given suitable instructions aimed at the complete removal and disposal of the waste as well as restoring the condition of the premises.