In Parma, garbage is not to be trifled with. The red street bins in the city of Emilia-Romagna, in northern Italy, set the tone: « It is forbidden to abandon household waste in and around the bins. » Translation : “It is forbidden to leave household waste in and around the bins.” The reminder is accompanied by a warning: “This inappropriate behavior will be punished.” And the penalties can be very harsh: fines of up to 10,000 euros and criminal prosecution for hazardous waste.
Ten CCTV cameras installed in the city track citizens “inappropriate behavior”. Seven are exposed to the view of all, hung on lampposts, like educational radars, to raise awareness among the inhabitants (nearly 200,000); three are hidden in what looks like electrical cabinets to thwart the vigilance of the most devious minds. The images are scrutinized by a specialized company. In the event of suspicion of infringement, they are transmitted to the “investigating agents” the Irish, the public company to which the municipality of Parma has entrusted the management of its waste.
The team, made up of seven people, is on the trail of a “serial polluter”: in one month, a retired doctor has abandoned his household waste twenty-seven times using his car. His license plate has been identified on the videos. The case is in the hands of the police, and the retiree is under threat of being caught red-handed.
Around 4,000 checks per year
Cases are not always so simple to solve for “garbage detectives”as they like to call themselves. Wearing fluorescent yellow vests, Sara Mazzola and Nicola Nuzzi, both in their thirties, patrol the cobbled streets of the old town. A bag of rubbish lies on the pavement at the bottom of a building, a few metres from a video surveillance camera. Nicola Nuzzi puts on a first pair of latex gloves, then a second, thicker one, cuts the bag with a cutter, then removes the rubbish one by one: cigarette butts and packaging from the fast food giant and the leader in online sales.
With pineapple and watermelon tattooed on her biceps, Sara Mazzola takes pictures with her fuchsia smartphone of what could serve as a« indices » to trace the offender. To avoid being identified, the latter took care to remove the label with his name from the Amazon box and used a lighter to make the barcode unreadable. “Very smart”comments Nicola Nuzzi.
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