Unusable masks, does Figliuolo make A2a happy?
Case A2a and inoperable masks. What the show Le Iene highlighted
Case A2a and unusable masks, here are all the details.
General Francesco Paolo Figliuolo, extraordinary commissioner for the Covid emergency, has decided to shred 218 million unusable masks . The cost for the public coffers will be around 700 thousand euros. But is it the only way forward? According to an investigation by the “ Le Iene ” program (Mediaset) the answer is “no” because a company in Varese would be willing to buy them to give them new life.
The masks of the first wave of Covid
The masks in question were produced in the very first wave of Covid-19 when the virus was not yet well known , we did not have the right tools to protect us, the masks were nowhere to be found and the prices were exorbitant. Article 15 of the Cura Italia decree had provided for an exemption that allowed the production of masks with less constraints and less bureaucracy , so many companies have converted to the production of masks. Not all the results were up to the necessity.
The masks to be sent to pulp
The " community masks " to be destroyed are 218 million and there are three types . The first type has features similar to a dust-catching cloth, was the object of ridicule by the President of the Campania Region Vincenzo De Luca and is also worn on public occasions by the former Minister of the Interior Matteo Salvini. The second has the same structure as the first but an even thinner consistency. And finally, there are masks distributed in schools , smelly and very fragile, costing the public coffers 237 million euros.
The Varese company that recycles masks
The company willing to buy the masks that General Figliuolo would like to send to pulp is Rialti , a company from Varese "leader at European level in the sector of polypropylene compounds for injection molding and extrusion". Basically at Rialti they transform the masks into small polypropylene balls which can then be transformed into any type of plastic product. Currently the company recycles masks, even those distributed in schools and not usable because they do not meet the minimum safety standards. Paolo Righini , purchasing manager of the Varese-based company Rialti SPA, replied to the journalist of the “Iene” , saying he paid 450 euros per ton for those masks. Given that there are only 2500 tons in stock, if they were to be paid at the same price in the state coffers they could enter € 1,125.00.
The recycling technique of the Polytechnic of Turin
At the Polytechnic of Turin they found a way to recycle the masks, the used ones and the new ones that cannot be used, transforming them into polypropylene , a material that can become any object. “The masks in Italy by law must be thrown into the undifferentiated and then end up either in the waste-to-energy plant or in landfills”, says Daniele Battegazzore, Turin DIISAT Alessandria laboratory technician.
Inventory costs and the role of A2a
“These masks are useless , and that's what condemns them. They remain in stock ”, says Galeazzo Bignami, honorable Brothers of Italy to the“ Iene ”. The masks are in storage in the Poste Italiane deposits which during the pandemic were the basis for storing medical equipment. But the stock is not without cost, keeping the masks in the warehouses of Poste Italiane costs 313 thousand euros a month and so far we have spent a total of 2.5 million euros of public money , underline "Le Iene" in the service that also concerns the group A2a.
Destroying the masks will cost 700 thousand euros, in the A2a case
To tell the truth, Commissioner Figliuolo tried to sell the unusable masks. Its structure has published two notices of expression of interest for the purchase of the unusable masks but no replies have arrived. Son could have made a direct reliance. “ He should have selected five companies and then based on those five choose who made the best offer”, Bignami added to the “Iene”. At that point he chose the path of disposal " But if you sell you earn, if you dispose of you pay ", says Bignami again. The contract for the disposal of the masks was won by A2A, a multiservice which, among other things, disposes of waste and produces energy, which will collect 698 thousand euros from this contract.
The 800 million masks that groove Arcuri
The material of the masks is a resource, from its transformation plastic balls are produced that can become anything. This also applies to the 800 million non-compliant masks for which the former Commissioner Arcuri risks trial on charges of abuse of office . The former Commissioner allegedly "as a public official and in competition with Fabbrocini and in union and competition by mutual agreement with the entrepreneur Vincenzo Tommasi " established "intentionally, in the hands of Tommasi, thereby abusing their office, an illegal position of financial advantage ". A modus operandi that guaranteed the entrepreneur “ the right to have a commercial relationship with the PA without assuming any responsibility for the result of his action and the validity of the supplies he procured; the almost total exclusivity in the de facto brokerage of supplies of surgical masks and dpi imported from China ".
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/energia/mascherine-inutilizzabili-figliuolo-fa-felice-a2a/ on Tue, 12 Apr 2022 10:13:17 +0000.