Sustainability of waste management in hilly landscape of the eastern Irpinia (Campania).

Abstract Irpinia is a historical region situated in Campania and coincides largely with the present province of Avellino. Within this region, the eastern sector is characterized mainly by a hilly landscape that stretches for about 1476 sq. km. Insist on it 40 small towns of the 119 total in the province of Avellino, only five of these exceed 5000 inhabitants. Most of these villages spread between 500 spread between 500 and 700 m above sea level. The geological connotation of the Eastern Irpinia is the presence of an extensive and articulated plateaux incised by an immature hydrographic network, which flows into the Ufita River to the north and in the Ofanto River to the south. This plateaux is mainly composed of Clay and sandy lithologies, attributable to several attributable to several terrigenous units variously classified in literature as pre and post post orogenic as well as to regressive cycle deposited in an epicontinental sea in the Pliocene. On the top of these sediments are the degradation products of Quaternary. The plateau, located between the outermost thrusts of the Apenninic chain, is the result of Plio-Pleistocene tectonic even if paroxysmal seismic events still alive in the memory of places and peoples, like the earthquake of 23 November 1980. In addition, the modelling by means of rain and washout is the direct cause of extensive erosion which affects the slopes of the hills. No less important is the flooding caused by the local rivers, which are mostly characterized by torrential runoff. Obviously, these hazards make precarious settlements and human activities in the area. The Eastern Irpinia has a distinctive rural identity, although the progressive abandonment of the countryside and the depopulation of the settlements are affecting further development. In the landscape other detractors are the widespread areas of extraction, in some cases with a very strong visual impact. In this context, biodiversity and historical-architectural structures must be protected. However, these aspects, rather than being a barrier to development, can be seen as an opportunity to protect and enhance the landscape in order to define opportunities for development. Such opportunities arise from the potential in the area that, properly planned with a view to a good policy to mitigate risk and danger, making them less vulnerable to anthropogenic and environmental conditions favouring a proper local land-use in compliance with the obligations Act for areas subject to protection in various ways. In dealing with the Strategic Environmental Assessment of Waste Management Plan of the Province of Avellino has shown that there are potential problems of the actions of the Plan against the geological environment and landscape, especially of Eastern Irpinia. This despite the fact that these actions indicate both a reduction in the use of the storage of waste, which directly affect the geological environment, is a balanced budget plant is proportional to the production of type and amount of waste per inhabitant, which generally results in localized environmental effects and indirect. Therefore, these problems result in part from the location of treatment plants in areas or placed next to them (for example, from river areas, geological constrains, vulnerabilities inherent hydrological, ecological corridors, etc …) and partly by the intrinsic fragility of the geological territory that changes in appearance due to the fast erosion particularly effective. The latter aspect determines effects not only at the plant, but also on work of man (road, infrastructures, etc…) necessary for the management of waste. Finally, in this area some specific geomorphological conditions can lead to severe penalties in case of earthquakes.