Italian plastic plant fires trigger political demand for stricter environmental oversight

Two recent industrial fires involving plastic recycling facilities have sparked criticism and calls for tighter environmental control in Italy.

In Sicily, the Alleanza Verdi e Sinistra (AVS) warned that the blaze at the Eni Versalis plant in Mantova – a pilot site for a planned 40,000‑tonne pyro‑lysis plant in Priolo – exposes serious safety gaps and threatens the future of the region’s petrochemical hub. The alliance also highlighted the approval of a hazardous‑waste landfill in Augusta, a shortage of monitoring staff within the regional environmental agency, and the risk of an uncoordinated shutdown that could leave jobs and the environment at stake.

Separately, in Vicopisano, Tuscany, a fire at the Delca Energy facility destroyed about 2,500 tonnes of plastic. Regional councilor Diego Petrucci (Fratelli d’Italia) condemned delayed communication, demanded that the Ministry of the Environment join a task‑force, and called for urgent health impact assessments and stronger air‑quality monitoring.

Both incidents underline growing public concern about the health and environmental consequences of large‑scale plastic‑waste processing in Italy and have prompted politicians to press national authorities for faster, more transparent safety oversight.