Institutional portal - Municipality of Milan

Fines for over 74 thousand euros. Scavuzzo: “Let's continue to fight this uncivilized phenomenon that causes degradation”

Milan, 17 December 2019 - Fifteen complaints and 34 administrative sanctions for illicit waste dumping, with fines of over 74 thousand euros. This is the balance sheet of the activity to control and combat illegal dumping by the Local Police, also through the use of photo traps and other cameras present in the area, from 25 May to 31 October.   

In this period, an experimental phase was started in municipalities 4 and 6 through joint actions of the environment and safety sector: 19 camera traps were installed in areas particularly subject to illegal dumping and abandonment of waste, identified by cross-referencing information and data from the Environment sector, Local Police and Amsa.

More than five months after the launch of this new service, it was decided to expand the investigations by also using other cameras present in the area, thus expanding the ability to identify any other perpetrators.

In particular, between May and October, 154 cases of waste abandonment were confirmed, of which 71 were carried out by people with a vehicle, while 83 were attributable to pedestrians. The investigations led to 15 complaints and 34 administrative sanctions for illegal waste dumping, with total fines of 74 thousand and 700 euros.

“The use of camera traps – comments deputy mayor Anna Scavuzzo – has made it possible to collect more detailed data which allows continuous monitoring of the phenomenon and a better adequacy of the measures to be undertaken. It is likely that those responsible have carried out other dumpings before these interventions as they demonstrate that they know the places well. In other cases, however, they live in the immediate vicinity. We continue with determination in this activity to try to put a stop not only to bad habits, but also to those who litter and disfigure, not respecting the rules".

For the discharges carried out by transporting the waste with vehicles, the Local Police managed to report 14 companies for unauthorized waste management activities (pursuant to art. 256 of Legislative Decree no. 152/2006 Consolidated Law on the Environment) and to proceed with the seizure of a means used for transport. Furthermore, 25 administrative sanctions were imposed, the majority for violation of article 20 of the Urban Waste Management Regulation, i.e. illegal dumping, which provides for a fine of 450 euros. In 15 cases, investigations to trace those responsible are still underway, with the collaboration of the municipalities.

For pedestrians the situation proved to be more complex, even if obviously the waste dumping was more contained, due to the difficulty of tracing those responsible. Of the 83 confirmed cases, one ended with a complaint for throwing furniture and objects from the balcony, including a sofa, and nine with administrative sanctions for violation of the Municipal Waste Management Regulation. There are 17 investigations still underway, while for the remaining cases it has not been possible to trace the perpetrators of the crime.

As regards the type of waste, the complaints relate to the abandonment of building materials, furniture and vehicle spare parts. Pedestrians, on the other hand, were mainly accused of abandoning bags of rubbish, but in two cases also of a sofa and a television.

The investigations also led to the identification of some time slots in which the phenomenon occurs. Much also depends on the quantity of abandoned material. A partial analysis revealed that 7 episodes occurred during the day, from 20 am to 78 pm, while 64 were counted at night.

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