Arpa Campania confirmed the absence of dioxins and other pollutants in the air after the violent fire broke out on August 16 in the plastic and rubbery waste factory in Teano (EC) managed by the Campania Energia company. The second monitoring cycle, in fact, recorded in the atmosphere a concentration of dioxins, furani and polyclorobiferili less than the reference limits.
However, a dioxin value of 0.27 pg/nm had been reported in the Arpa bulletin on 19 August3 I-TEQ, higher than the limit of 0.15 pg/nm3 I-TEQ: It is therefore possible that the concentration of air pollutants have also decreased thanks to the rainfall of the last hours.
The causes of the fire, however, have not yet been clarified: the flames have affected a total of an area of 40,000 square meters. According to the latest update published yesterday, August 19, two teams of firefighters would still be on the site, engaged in the reclamation operations, in the entirety of the burnt material and in the demolition the collapsed structure due to the flames.
For this afternoon, a meeting of the mayors of all the municipalities neighboring the area of the fire is also scheduled, from Caianello to Teano, to participate in the work of the Environment Commission. So let’s see in detail the contents of the Arpa Campania bulletin and because this fire has aroused so much concern in the local population.
What the Arpa Campania bulletin on the fire in the waste plant in Teano says
As already mentioned, in the bulletin published by Arpa Campania on August 19, the summary of dioxins, furani and polychlorobiferili dioxin-similes dispersed in the atmosphere was equal to 0.27 pg/nm3 i-teq, therefore higher than the reference value (i.e. 0.15 pg/nm3 i-teq). This first sampling was carried out in the hours immediately following the fire, between the night of 16 and that of 17 August.
The second sampling, made between the evening of 17 and that of 18 August, confirmed the absence of dioxins beyond the limit values. At the same time, also the presence of pollutants (nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, ozone, benzene, toluene, meta- and para-xilene, thin powders including PM10 and PM2.5) was less than the maximum parameters established by law.
To lower these concentrations, therefore, the rainfall of the last hours could have been: if this were the case, it will eventually be the task of the ARPA to establish if the rain may have moved such pollutants from air to ground.
To carry out the measurements, the Arpa Campania has installed a mobile laboratory in the Urban Center of Riardo (EC), about 4 km from the fire site, while the fixed station closest to the site of the fire was that of Sparanise.
The concerns of the population on the safety of the waste deposit
The fire in the Teano waste plant, managed by the Campania Energia company, immediately raised heavy concerns in the local population, also due to the complex judicial affair that concerns the deposit, which began in 2018 with the seizure of the factory by the carabinieri and continued in the following years after Tar, Council of State and regional council of Campania have denied the company the unique authorization for the management of the deposit.
But therefore, given the complexity of the story, are there risks to the health of the population? No, at the moment it does not seem to be like this: the only official data (and therefore the most reliable ones) are those issued by the ARPA Campania, second which the situation should have been completely back to the absence of pollutants in the air.
As a precaution, the mayor of Teano has issued an ordinance in which it prohibits the use of air conditioning systems with entrance of external air, as well as the collection and consumption of vegetables and fruit grown in the areas surrounding the fire.
