Sos incivility: despite the efforts of Salerno Pulita operators, yesterday morning the city did not look in the best conditions. In the historic center, for days now, shopkeepers and residents on the ground floor have been throwing water and ammonia into the streets to try to defend themselves from the invasion of insects attracted by the heat and the smell of garbage left around. In the Masuccio port area, Piazza della Concordia, the area between Santa Teresa and Crescent and Via Ligea, piles of waste, glass bottles, and food scraps were left in the sun while dozens and dozens of tourists walked towards the ferry docks or the beach near the Baia hotel. Here, near the parking lot, an illegal dump is created every year, which the Salerno Pulita staff is forced to remove almost daily, especially during the weekends when the number of beachgoers is significantly higher. The same happens between Piazza della Concordia and Masuccio port: in this case, the rocks are targeted and become receptacles for bags, cardboard, and cigarette butts. The scenario is less dramatic in the Crescent area, but there is a prevalence of garbage related to nightlife visitors.
THE VOICES “This is how Salerno presented itself to tourists, to those who were taking the ferry, to those who were running through the city, and to those who were taking a stroll. Garbage everywhere, zero maintenance, glass bottles everywhere, despite a ban that is constantly bypassed because vending machines sell wine, beer, and more,” Dario Renda exclaimed on the Facebook page of the Salerno Mia territorial committee. “Not to mention the nauseating smell coming from the flower beds, the smell of sewage and leachate, glass bins and others now used as mixed waste bins, micro-dumps everywhere. Citizens are tired of living in a pigsty. The blame is not on the Salerno Pulita operators who are doing their best. The blame lies with an administration that does not care about the interests of its citizens.” But also with the Salerno residents themselves who seem to have let even the last remnants of civic sense evaporate. “I live near Via Ligea and pass by the dump that is created every summer,” Mariella Sarno recounts. “Now it is clear that since the phenomenon is seasonal, the responsibility for this mess is partially on the bathers and mainly on the owners of bars and restaurants who, instead of respecting the times and days of waste collection, get rid of everything indiscriminately. Unfortunately, until there is a video surveillance system and stricter sanctions, the problem will never be solved. They can increase street cleaning shifts, but if a person is not civilized and educated and does not respect the needs and rights of others, there is very little to do.” As for the area of the Maritime Station, the blame is pointed at boaters: “I am not aware of any checks, and so everyone does whatever they want,” Alfonso Esposito bursts out. “Just open the bags and it is clear that the waste is produced by those who have decided to spend a day on a boat: glass bottles, plastic plates, cigarette butts, and food scraps.”
THE INITIATIVE Meanwhile, the volunteers of Voglio un mondo pulito carried out a clean-up at the blue park in Mariconda, between Via Tanagro and Via Angrisani: the activists removed over two kilograms of mixed waste, over two kilograms of glass, almost one kilogram of plastic, half a kilogram of metal, and one kilogram of cigarette butts. In the coming days, they will return to the free beaches, where, we remind you, a daily cleaning service is carried out by the municipal administration.
