Construction sites for the construction of four waste treatment plants decided by Roma Capitale and Ama will begin in the first months of 2025. Two biodigesters and two plants for the recovery and treatment of paper and multimaterial. The tenders have been awarded and the next phase, the last one before the works, is the design phase.
The biodigesters of Rome
The announcement was made by Mayor Roberto Gualtieri, Councilor for Waste Sabrina Alfonsi, and President of Ama SpA Bruno Manzi. There were four tenders: two for biodigesters in Casal Selce and Cesano, two for paper and multimaterial in Rocca Cencia and Ponte Malnome. Published by Invitalia last March, by the deadline of April 16 they had received a full slate of offers. Eleven in total for the two biodigesters alone.
200 thousand tons in Casal Selce and Cesano
These two plants, which will be located in Casal Selce and Cesano, will have a total treatment capacity of 200 thousand tons per year and will allow the end of the cycle to be achieved. “The Ama fleet – explains the Municipality – will be able to be fueled by biogas produced from organic waste, creating true circular autonomy”. As for those for paper and multi-material recovery, i.e. plastic, aluminum and glass, the capacity will be 200 thousand tons (100 thousand for paper, 100 thousand for the rest).
A total investment of 328 million euros
The construction of all the new facilities will be supported in part by Rome Capital. The Capitoline assembly has in fact already approved the allocation of 141 million euros that will be added to the funds of the “Aid Decree” (187 million euros) earmarked for the construction of the works for a total investment of 328 million euros.
Gualtieri: “Rome projected into the future”
“Rome must be a modern capital and projected into the future also with regards to the treatment of waste produced daily by the city – Gualtier reminds usi –. These four plants, together with all the other actions we are implementing, will make a very important contribution to a structural solution to a problem that for too long has represented a periodic and recurring emergency”. “Thanks to these plants – adds Alfonsi – we will be able to intercept large quantities of organic materials, paper, plastic, metal and glass, significantly increasing the percentages of waste sent for recycling. This demonstrates in a concrete and unequivocal way the fact that Rome believes in separate waste collection which, with this further step, will make an important leap forward”.
Casal Selce and Cesano, now Ama can expropriate the lands that will host the biodigesters
Manzi (Ama): “Virtuous management”
For Bruno Manzi, president of Ama SpA “together with Rome Capital we are committed and convinced to follow the path that will lead our city to plant self-sufficiency and to a waste management that is finally virtuous and sustainable in both environmental and economic terms. I thank the Capitoline administration for the constant and concrete support for this challenge, the goal is that of a Capital that becomes a model of circular economy in which waste materials are no longer a problem but a resource to be reintroduced into the production circuit”.
The opposition of the territories
This news, although predictable, will certainly only reinvigorate protests in the territories involved in the construction of the two biodigesters. In March, when the tender for the construction was published, citizens present at a council meeting of the XIII municipality booed and protested against councilor Sabrina Alfonsi, also accusing her of “environmental racism”. In the same weeks, it was the mini-mayor of the XV municipality who told Mayor Roberto Gualtieri “that he is making a mistake” by choosing Cesano as the location for the other plant: “We remain in our position of opposition. Not because we do not want the plants to be built, even in our territory, indeed the Mayor is right to be determined, but because of the location that we consider wrong and not very productive in industrial terms” said Daniele Torquati, of the Democratic Party.
