Gela, illicit waste trafficking: seizures and complaints are pouring in

Gela (Caltanissetta), illicit waste trafficking: seizures and complaints are pouring in.

In the early hours of the morning of 8 June 2022, the Carabinieri of the Ecological Operations Unit of Palermo, assisted by the soldiers of the Provincial Command of Caltanissetta, at the end of complex and detailed investigations, coordinated by the Public Prosecutor's Office of Gela and conducted as part of the activity to combat crimes in environmental matters, executed an enforcement order of no. 1 personal precautionary measure under house arrest and n. 21 real precautionary measures – preventive seizures – by the GIP of the Court of Gela.

At the request of the local Public Prosecutor's Office, against n. 14 subjects from Gelato, under investigation for the illicit activity of collection, transport, management and disposal of special waste, even of a dangerous nature, in road arteries close to the urban centre, such as to cause a serious danger for the healthiness of the environment and a situation of significant degradation of the landscape. 

This is an assessment carried out in the preliminary investigation phase which requires subsequent procedural verification in the cross-examination with the defence.

The investigations

The investigative activity originates from the denunciation of the state of serious environmental degradation affecting several rural roads in Gela close to the town center (CD. “trazzere”), which have become real illegal open-air landfills, as they are the object of systematic abandonment of special waste, including dangerous waste, carried out by illegal hauliers and private citizens. 

According to the accusatory approach, the investigations carried out, also through video recordings, would have highlighted circumstantial elements on the part of the suspects - mostly abusive owners, with a logistical base in Gela and operating independently on "direct call" from the customer - regarding the offense , systematic and continuous disposal.

This occurred through combustion - of large quantities of dangerous and non-hazardous special waste (inert waste mixed with plastic waste resulting from demolition and construction activities of buildings, corrugated iron and asbestos tanks, bulky waste, out-of-use household appliances, etc.), quantifiable - for the time period in question only - in approximately 450,00 tonnes.

Illegal landfills

The illicit activity led to the creation of at least no. 6 illegal landfills that extended for square kilometers along the edges of n. 4 "trazzere", adjacent to the town centre, with consequent presumable pollution of the soil and subsoil environmental matrices, as well as of the atmosphere, due to the emissions of harmful gaseous substances released by the fires.

The operation is part of the constant commitment of the Carabinieri in the fight against environmental crime, for an ever greater effectiveness of the actions conducted by the Institution and the Special Department, in particular in defense of the Environment, which is why, among other things, the new Ecological Operational Unit of Caltanissetta will soon be established, with headquarters in Gela.

Precautionary measures

During the operations, the following were carried out:

- n. 1 order for the application of a personal precautionary measure under house arrest against a Gela subject with multiple criminal convictions, author of multiple episodes of illicit waste disposal, which often occurred through combustion;

- n. 15 preventive seizures, for the purposes of confiscation, of trucks and work vehicles illegally used for the collection, transport and disposal of the aforementioned waste;

- n. 6 preventive seizures of areas extending over thousands of square metres, illegally designated as landfills for the disposal of special waste, including dangerous ones, and located respectively along the edges of the arterial roads of the Municipality of Gela.

At the end of the aforementioned activities, we also proceeded to report to the competent Administrative Authority no. 6 private entities responsible for "uncontrolled abandonment of solid urban waste" at the monitored sites, in order to increase the expected administrative sanction against them pursuant to art. 255 co.1 of Legislative Decree 152/2006.

The areas seized, whose economic value is around 2.500.000,00 euros, were entrusted into judicial custody to the Mayor of the Municipality of Gela, pending the decisions of the AG.