Page 164 - Supplemento 2-2016 (ENG)

hon. alessandro Bratti

sible: for this reason the absolute need to resort to a more pragmatic approach
is evident. It is no coincidence that on a European level, on the subject of land
use and reclamation, there is still no EU directive; each individual country beha-
ves differently and, I repeat, the approach in countries of northern Europe or
Germany, is far simpler and more pragmatic.

Another critical point relates to hazardous waste. For a variety of reasons
we find ourselves in a very difficult situation. On the one hand, because we do
not have an adequate plant design in Italy (rightly or wrongly no-one has mana-
ged to build anything), on the other hand, because, unlike in other countries,
the citizens have little trust in controls carried out by public structures (and in
some cases they are probable right). Recently we visited Germany which has
about ten times the capacity to dispose of its hazardous waste compared to its
needs. In practice, Germany manages to import waste from all Europe, inclu-
ding Italy. In the last legislature, Germans could count on the sum of 360 mil-
lion Euros paid on a regular basis by Italy for the disposal of hazardous waste.

Among the waste that we send to Germany from the building sector there
is asbestos cement from roofs and coverings. Quite rightly we have provided
incentives in Italy for the substitution of these coverings through economic
subsidies. Since the transport costs of such materials are high, very often such
dangerous materials end up being disposed of illegally.

Another issue regards the so-called traceability of waste. Unfortunately,
there was an experiment in this country that failed miserably called Sistri
(system for the control of waste traceability). This project should have been the
magic tool to control environmental crime. Then it was transformed, in my opi-
nion, following the crazy idea of some Minister, into the MUD (Single Model
of Environmental Declaration) which is a totally inoperative instrument with a
range of significantly problematic issues, which are both technical and related
to the sphere of the procurement system, under the scrutiny of the judiciary

In the EU circular economy package we have raised the problem of cross-
border trafficking of waste. This regards used vehicles, the so-called ‘Raee’
(waste from electrical and electronic devices) and the consequent movement in
Italian and other ports. Recently the Commission I preside over visited the port
of Hamburg where we saw entire service areas of used vehicles that leave for

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