waste metabolism and socio-environmental conflict in campania

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Waste metabolism and socio-environmental

conflict. Starting with Campania’s case

study

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D’Alisa G. Research fellow at Autonomous University of Barcelona - ICTA

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Contents

1. Waste Conflict in Campania: a crisis of democracy

2. Campania’s Urban Waste Metabolism case: new set of integrated indicators for waste analysis

3. Capital accumulates waste and waste contributes to capital accumulation

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Assumption

Conflicts implies the understanding of the metabolic connections between the city, the countryside, and the bodies.

Waste conflict in Campania

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Waste conflict in CampaniaWhere is Campania?

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Waste Conflict in Campania Standard narrative of “waste emergency”

“In theory, a permanent solution is not difficult, and has been proposed by an emergency commission: greater recycling and the opening of several incinerators and new dumping sites in Naples and the neighbouring provinces. But as has happened in several of the identified towns over the last two weeks, local people protest loudly.” (Peter Kiefer, “In Mire of Politics and the Mafia, Garbage Reigns”, NYT, May 31, 2007)

New York Times May 31, 2007

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Waste conflict in Campaniaour narrative: “a crisis of democracy”

Grounded in a post-normal science (PNS) approach,

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The “Post-normal” epistemological framework (PNS) analyses the limitations of “normal” science approaches when facts are uncertainty, values are in dispute, stakes are high and decisions are urgent (Funtowicz and Ravetz, 1994a,b, 1997, 2002; Ravetz and Funtowicz, 1999; Gallopín et al., 2001)PNS emphasizes irreducible uncertainty, multiple perspectives and quality assurance by an “extended peer community”. The latter refers to the expansion of the peer group beyond certified experts to include all those with a stake in the issue such as “judges, journalists, scientists from other fields or just citizens” (Funtowicz and Ravetz, 1994a p. 204). Such an extension improves the democracy of science for governance and enhances the quality of the process and the outcomes.

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Waste conflict in Campaniaour narrative: “a crisis of democracy”

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Waste conflict in Campaniascattered information: Metropolitan area of

Naples

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Waste conflict in Campaniascattered information: Added Value (AV),

Employment (E), agro-food industry

2007 Istat Campania AV 84,800.0 M€ (6%)

Italia AV 1,371,833.4 M€

Agriculture AV=2,202.7 M€ (3%, 8%)E= 91 m (5%)

AV= 27,925.7 M€ (2%)E= 1,015.3 m (4%)

Industry AV= 16,748.3 M€ (20%, 5%)E= 403,4 m (22%)

AV= 370,805.6 M€ (27%)E= 7,172,5 m (29%)

Service AV= 65,849.0 M€ (77%, 7%) E= 1333,3 m (73%)

AV= 973,102.1 M€ (71%)E= 16,973.9 m (67%)

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Waste conflict in Campaniascattered information: PDO, PGI; TSG

1. Caciocavallo Silano2. Cipollotto Nocerino3. Fico bianco del Cilento 4. Mozzarella di Bufala Campana5. Olio extravergine di oliva Cilento6. Olio extravergine di oliva Colline Salernitane7. Olio extravergine di oliva Irpinia - Colline dell'Ufita8. Olio extravergine di oliva Penisola Sorrentina9. Pomodorino del Piennolo del Vesuvio10. Pomodoro S. Marzano dell'Agro Sarnee-nocerino11. Provolone del Monaco12. Olio extravergine di oliva Terre Aurunche13. Ricotta di Bufala Campana14. Castagna di Serino15. Oliva di Gaeta

1. Carciofo di Paestum2. Castagna di Montella3. Limone Costa d'Amalfi4. Limone di Sorrento5. Marrone di Roccadaspide6. Melannurca Campana7. Nocciola di Giffoni8. Vitellone Bianco dell'Appennino

Centrale9. Suino Napoli10. Noce di Sorrento11. Pasta di Gragnano12. Torrone di Benevento13. Torroncino croccantino di San Marco

dei Cavoti

1. Mozzarella2. Pizza napoletana

Registred

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EC 510/2006 EC 509/2006 EC 510/2006

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Waste conflict in CampaniaMilestone: steps toward “a crisis of democracy”

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1994 – Welcome to the Waste Emergency Kingdom. The landfills are said to be full, even if we actually do not have any data on the capacity of the landfills. Campania region felt under an emergency legal framework which a special agency deputed to solve the crisis, which has squandered about 8 billion euros.

1998 – Let the worst be the winner and the beginning of storing the treasure. The public tender for the construction and management of the waste facilities and treatment was won by the FIBE on the basis of : cost, and speed of delivering. They start to store the combustible waste blocks which guarantee large subsidies by the state.

2004 - The triangle of death and the square of the beating-up. A group of researchers published on Lancet oncology an essay titled: “The triangle of death” in which they argued that there was a correlation between the illegal dumps and the diffusion of some kind of tumors in Campania. The same year a huge march of protest held in Acerra against the incinerator was violently repressed by the police

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Waste conflict in CampaniaMilestone: steps toward “a crisis of democracy”

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2007 – An international icon. Pictures of Naples flooded with garbage went all around the world. The US consul in Naples suggested his fellow Americans not to come for sanitary reasons. In the same year Saviano’s Gomorrah was translated in English

2008 – Tanks against garbage. Government issued a special law de facto suspending the ordinary laws in Campania, in terms of both social dissent and environmental protection. On one hand waste facilities became military sites, on the others those facilities can be opened in Campania notwithstanding the provisions in force both at national and EU levels.

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Waste conflict in Campania: Milestone: steps toward “a crisis of democracy”

1998 Let the worst be the winner and the beginning of storing the treasure.

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The Italian Government guarantees large subsidies to be financed by a 7% increase in electricity bills.

70 € per Mw (2009). Incinerator, in Acerra with a foreseen 107 Mw capacity would generate a revenue about 100 M€ per year

The amount of accumulated combustible waste about 7 Mtons, equivalent to1 Billion € to be potentially generated from combustion

1998 Let the worst be the winner and the beginning of storing the treasure.


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The Lancet Oncology (Senior and Mazza, 2004).In Campania 4% of total Special waste

even if 6% of Total Added Value of Italy


2004 - The triangle of death and the square of the beating-up

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2004 - The triangle of death and the square of the beating-up.

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“The garbage is gold” (quotation from a telephone call between Camorra’s affiliates intercepted by the police)

Illegal disposal of toxic waste and the crisis of the urban waste disposal are connected in two ways:

it is a matter of trust (people do not trust the government which has allowed the dumping of any kind of materials in the landfills)

the inquiries on the illegal traffic of waste have often driven to the shutting down of landfills not properly managed.

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2004 - The triangle of death and the square of the beating-up.

Urbanwaste

SpecialWaste

Total waste Italy

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ISPRA 2005

Urban

Special disappearedSpecial treatedlegally

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19.700.000 ton

=

5 billion €

Waste in Italy legally and illegally treated

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Illegal disposal of toxic waste and the crisis of the urban waste disposal are connected, the people do not trust the government, the landfills fill up and the beating up goes on

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Waste conflict in Campaniasome methodological conclusions

In this context, we need a shift of emphasis from a “community of experts” (i.e. scientific peer community) in NS to an “expert community” (i.e. extended peer community) in PNS; the former is led by certified experts, while the latter emerges from a quality assessment of the political process able to articulate “extended facts”, i.e. the diversity of knowledge (e.g. scientific, local), values (e.g. economic, ethical) and beliefs (e.g. material, spiritual) at stake (Ravetz and Funtowicz, 1999).

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The problem of waste disposal in Campania

is not just a problem of technical, economic and logistic mismanagement,

It is not reducible to the inability of Campania's citizens to deal with their own waste.

It is no a problem of Italy's reputation.

Policies based on these assumptions will continue to fail even if anchored by repressive measures designed to stifle civil unrest

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Waste conflict in Campaniasome policy conclusions

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http://napolimonitor.files.wordpress.com/2010/11/mamme_boscoreale.jpg foto di janos

http://napolimonitor.files.wordpress.com/2010/10/vesuviocorteo_monitor1.jpg Foto di Alfonso De Vito

http://napolimonitor.files.wordpress.com/2010/11/terzigno15_monitor.jpg foto di Stefano Esposito

http://napolimonitor.files.wordpress.com/2010/09/terzigno_monitor2.jpg


http://napolimonitor.files.wordpress.com/2010/11/mamme_boscoreale.jpg



http://napolimonitor.files.wordpress.com/2010/10/vesuviocorteo_monitor1.jpg



http://napolimonitor.files.wordpress.com/2010/11/terzigno15_monitor.jpg



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The effective resolution of this conflict requires instead an approach that takes into account a much wider consideration of values and beliefs at stake. This cannot be accomplished through authoritarian processes but more inclusive ones, whereby different actors at different scales assume responsibilities through a deliberative perspective.

Otherwise the crisis of democracy will go on

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Short questions on the first part?

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Case studies strategy may suggest hypotheses, interpretations and plausible description in the particular case hopefully applicable also in other cases, but a case-study can be also inherently interesting in its own right (Platt 1988). Some authors underlines the usefulness of using case-study methodology when the researcher want to answer to why and/or how questions and when the case is unique event (Yin 1989).

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Campania’s Urban Waste Metabolism case: new indicators

research question : just looking at the waste generation, sorting and disposal official data how Campania waste management crisis can be explained?

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Our study research will move some steps toward theoretical propositions or analytical generalization, where the process of inference to general proposition is logical more then statistical (Yin 1989; Mitchell 1983 in Platt 1988).

If the results presented below are frame-breaking insights (Eisenhardt 1989) to explore similar case, our study research will reach double goals: firstly describing in a more exhaustive way the number that underpin the Campania crisis, and secondly to create a set of indicators complementary to the conventional ones showing the characteristics of waste metabolism in other contexts.

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Campania’s Urban Waste Metabolism case: new

indicatorsConventional indicators

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Data source: ISPRA

Assumption:

Waste generation figures alone do not explain the problem of waste mismanagement in Campania.

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Assumption:

Waste generation figures alone do not explain the problem of waste mismanagement in Campania.

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Conventional indicators

Data source: ISPRA

Separate collection

Waste disposed

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Research questions:

Just looking at the waste generation, sorting and disposal official data how Campania waste management crisis can be explained?

Is there a waste indicator able to give us useful information on Campania emergency waste crisis?

What kind of methodology; Which methodology is useful for an integrated assessment of Campania’s urban waste metabolism?

- MuSIASEM - Multi-Scale Integrated Analysis of Societal and Ecosystem Meatabolism

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MuSIASEM is an evolving approach created in order to deal with problems related to complex systems and sustainability. It has been developed by integrating various theoretical concepts from different fields:

(i) non-equilibrium thermodynamics applied to ecological analysis;

(ii) complex systems theory, and

(iii) Bioeconomics.

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The MuSIASEM has been used in diverse empirical studies related to the sustainability of agriculture (Giampietro, 2003), the societal metabolism of China, (Ramos-Martin et al., 2007) and England (Gasparatos et al., 2008), the analysis of energy issues related to the energy intensity in Catalonia (Ramos-Martin et al. 2009), the introduction of bio-fuels (Giampietro, 2006b) in a socio-economic system depending on oil (Giampietro, 2006c).

This is the first attempt to use it for studying waste metabolism

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The MuSIASEM characterizes the social metabolism in economic and biophysical terms at different scales based on the Bioeconomics of Georgescu-Roegen (1971) and re-elaborates in an effective way the flow-fund model that he proposed to represent, in biophysical terms, the socioeconomic process of production and consumption of goods and services.

The fund variables (capital goods, persons and Ricardian land) represent the size of the system, define the socioeconomic process analysed and remain the same for the whole process. They represent the set of attributes used by the analyst to define what the system is. The flow variables (energy, water, waste, new products) define the elements that go through the system and can change according the accessibility of the stock as well as the technical capacity of the process. They represent the set of attributes that defines what the system does (Giampietro et al., 2009)

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Grammar for waste metabolism

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Flow variables:

• Waste Production (WP): it is the total amount of waste generated by the system.

• WP = Waste Separate Collection (WSC)+Waste Disposed (WD)

Fund variables:

• Total Human Activity (THA) = Population * 24 hours * 365 days.

• Colonized Land (COL): it is the extension of the area of the system under analysis (in km2)

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Grammar for waste metabolism

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In order to bridge the gap of conventional indicators, within the rational od MuSIASEM we propose to use two new indicators,

(1)Waste Production Metabolic Rate (WPMR), which indicates the pace of waste production per hour of human activity;

(2) Density of Waste Production (DWP), which indicates the amount of waste generated per day in a given area.

2i) as the ratio flow/fund: DWPi = WPi/COLi, or

2ii) as a product: DWPi = WPMRi x DHAi.

(2.1) Density of Waste Disposed (DWD) which indicates the amount of waste disposed, in a landfill, or trough the inceneration process, per day in a given area.


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DWD: the regional ranking changes remarkably, showing a different picture of Italian waste system compared to the conventional indicatorsCampania has the highest DWD, 491,80 (kg/d/)/km2, almost three times higher than the national average 183,16 (kg/d)/km2.

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Regional level nDPUW (kg/d)/km2


This result shows that these regions can experience difficulties in waste management, as it is clear for Campania (D’alisa et al. 2010) and more and more probable for Lazio, which has been experiencing tensions in its waste management over these last years, as well as the Liguria region. Lombardy is the 4th region in the ranking and lies in a lower range.

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The chart complements the representation in the regional map. It has two functions: first it shows six different dimensions for each region reinforcing the idea of complementarity among them, second it highlights in a single view the most problematic indicators for each region represented.

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Provincial level n-1DWD (kg/d)/km2

It is interesting to highlight than at the n-1 level Naples, besides being first, has a daily production of waste per km2 twice over than Milan, second in the ranking, which also experienced a waste crisis in the ‘90s (Deputy Camera Doc. XXIII n. 39). The municipality of Milan experienced from 1994 to 1996 a waste crisis after the closing of the landfill at Cerro Maggiore.

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The scaling down is useful:

1) to stress the contribution of DWD to detect plausible critique areas and their risk to suffer a waste crisis and socio-environmental conflicts;

2) to highlight, by means of a multi-scale analysis, the necessity to capture the diversity of waste performances at different scale.


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The waste problem in Campania is still more evident if we look at the DWD at the provincial level. The multi-scale analysis allows us to capture the difference between Naples and the rest of Campania’s provinces.

This result is quite interesting: it confirms that the crisis in Campania has been due mainly to the waste produced and managed in some part of the province of Naples and Caserta. Nevertheless, because of a mono-scale institutional solution of the waste crisis, the rest of provinces have been included in the same emergency plan.

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Scaling down to the municipal level we find a great non homogeneity characterizing the municipalities in Campania. The values range from the 2 (kg/d)/km2 of Tortorella (Sa) o the highest value in the region of 18.367 for Frattaminore (Na)


Municipality level n-2DWD (kg/d)/km2

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New and relevant information, are brought about waste metabolism in Italy by the MuSIASEM approach. It allows us to formalize a new set of integrated indicators that according to the results we have shown can be an important tool to detect areas risking waste emergency.

The waste emergency in the region is not observable based on the conventional indicators. Campania is 4th for the total amount waste, is 16th for waste per capita, and is not the worst region in terms of separate collection of waste. Instead, looking at the DWD value the region is first in the national ranking. Naples is the worst province more then doubling the second worst province

Campania’s Urban Waste Metabolism case: new indicators, some methodological conclusions (1)

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Lazio and Liguria the 2nd and 3rd respectively for the DWD have experienced waste emergency in the last period, even if not so acute as in Campania. Therefore, we argue that the DP indicator is suitable to assess the plausible risk of a given territory to suffer a waste crisis. The high density per km2 is an indicator of a high waste pressure in the area that might generate conflicts between and within local communities when dealing with the localization of waste infrastructures, such as incinerators or landfills.

Secondly, the multi-scale analysis gives a more exhaustive picture of Italian waste system than using a single scale and shows the limits of a unique institutional solution to waste problems.

Campania’s Urban Waste Metabolism case: new indicators, some methodological

conclusions (2)

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Campania’s Urban Waste Metabolism case: new indicators, some policy suggestion

(1)What kind of policy recommendation come out from this integrated assessment?

Local waste plans might deal more effectively with the problem of waste management, looking at DWD indicator at different scales, complementarily to the traditional indicators, before to plan any institutional actions

But more relevant in terms of science for governance is the fact that in the region of Campania there are several provinces whose performance are pretty well for each indicators we used. This should suggest for the future to avoid declaring a whole region as a zone in a waste emergency just for institutional region before checking its performance at different scales.

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Short questions on the second part?

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Capital accumulates waste and waste contributes to capital accumulation

Scope:

To study the dynamics of social

metabolism and capitalism through the

lens of environmental conflicts.

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Theoretical roots

To bring together two lines of thought:

- Social metabolism and ecological distribution conflicts (Martinez-Alier, 2002)

- Capitalism (Harvey, 2003)

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Waste

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Definition:

Ecological distribution conflicts

Environmental conflicts are characterized by struggles over the burdens of pollution or over the damages and injuries made to extract resources or dump the wastes.

They arise from social asymmetries in the distribution of political and economic power, property rights and income.

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Capitalism is a social production relation where labourers have no control over the means of production.

Accumulation is the process in which the separation between labourers and their means of production is continuously reproduced.

Over-accumulation: is the result of the accumulation process which generate exceeding capital capacity that does not find profitable opportunities.

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Contribution to the literature.

- Ecological distribution conflicts (Martinez-Alier,

2002):

→ Driving forces of social metabolism.

- Capitalism (Harvey, 2003):

→ The everlasting problem of the revolutionary

subject.

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Primitive Accumulation [PA] (Marx)

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Preconditions of a capitalist mode of

production

Historical PA (Lenin, Dobb, Sweezy )

Continuous phenomenon within the capitalist mode of production

Inherent-continuous PA (Luxemburg, Amin)

In the Marx discourse you can find both if you consider the central concept: separation (between labourers and means of production) (De

Angelis 2001)

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Strategy of capitalism (because of over-accumulation):- Accumulation by dispossession (Harvey, 2003)The inherent necessity of the capital system to separate, through extra-economic means, the labourers from the means of production to perpetuate the capitalistic relation.

i.e. Bio-prospecting, patent rights, privatization of public utilities,...


Second strategy - Accumulation by contamination The process by which the capital system endangers, through cost shifting, the means of existence (and subsistence) of human beings to perpetuate the capitalistic relation.

i.e. Air pollution, Alteration of biogeochemical cycles,...

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Assumption: Due to over-accumulation capital goes in search of opportunities for profitable investments.

• Industrialization of waste management is one among several strategies to expand the scale and scope of capital accumulation.

• Industrialization of waste management create new ecological distribution conflicts due to the dynamics of social metabolism, and different kind of subjects put up a fight against it.


Case study The incinerator of Okhla-Timarpur (Delhi, India)

Incineration (RDF) of 1.950 tons/day, 16 MW: Waste-to-Energy: subsidized prices of electricity.Carbon credits from CDM (Kyoto Protocol).

Opponents:

- Waste-pickers to defend their livelihood

(defending means of production)

- Residents to defend their right to a clean

environment

(defending means of existence)


Case study The incinerator of Acerra (Naples, Italy)

Incineration (RDF) of 1.950 tons/day, 107 MW Waste-to-Energy: subsidized price of electricity through the increase of household electricity bill of 7%

Opponents:

1) Anticapitalist movements; 2) Environmental NGOs (locals), 3) Shepherds; 4) Intellectuals and professionals, 5) Medical' association; 6) Local residents; 7) Religious associations.

(defending means of existence)



I] Capital accumulates expanding social metabolism and capitalist markets through dispossession and contamination resulting into an unequal distribution of costs and benefits which lead to socio-environmental conflicts.

II] Different actors emerge from socio-ecological distribution conflicts reacting to capital accumulation:

• 1. Actors reacting to the separation from the means of

production (Dispossession) → Who is the owner of waste?

• 2. Actors reacting to the endangering of the means of

existence (Contamination) → Who is the owner of the sinks?

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Questions on the third part ...

and throw tomatoes if you wish

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waste metabolism and socio-environmental conflict in campania

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