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Crotone

Our environmental interventions involving land and groundwater of former industrial areas and landfills.

A long and complex process of environmental remediation

The industrial history of the Crotone site began in the 1930s with the productions by the companies Pertusola Sud (former Pertusola area) and Ammonia Meridionale (former Fosfotec and former Agricoltura areas), the latter of which was subsequently transferred to Montecatini and then merged into Montedison in 1966. In the early 1990s the facilities, following Eni’s acquisition and rescue operations as a state-owned company, were transferred to Enichem, which managed the closure of the plants and initiated the environmental operations through safety and remediation interventions. In 2001, the Ministry of Environment identified by decree the site of Crotone-Cassano-Cerchiara as being one of national interest, including within the perimeter not only the internal areas occupied by the decommissioned plants, but also the former Pertusola and Fosfotec landfills.

In June 2023, as part of the procedure in compliance with article 244 of the the Italian Consolidated Environmental Act for the areas of former Montedison origin, the Province of Crotone issued the Ordinance with which it identified Edison as approximately 95% responsible for the contamination of the former Agricoltura, Fosfotec and Sasol areas, and as 100% responsible for the former Fosfotec landfill. Eni Rewind was identified as responsible only for the marginal residual share, due to the years that passed since the establishment of Enimont in 1989 and the decommissioning of the former Montedison plants, which for the main part occurred before 1992.

Our activities in Crotone

At the Crotone site, Eni Rewind, as owner after Enichem’s takeover in the early 1990’s, began the implementation of safety measures and remediation interventions, starting from the construction of a hydraulic barrier made up of 54 pumping wells in order to ensure contamination containment within the site perimeter, as well as its progressive removal.
In 2008, after a period of government-appointed management of the areas, Eni's environmental company put forward a number of remediation schemes, including eight project proposals for the former Pertusola and Fosfotec seafront landfills, none of which were considered suitable for approval by the Authorities.
In 2017, the company, after a long dialogue with the institutions to identify a broadly shareable proposal, presented a new remediation project divided in two phases: the Operative Remediation Project Phase 1 for the creation of breakwaters to protect the remediation site areas from any meteorological or marine events, which were completed in 2021, and the Operative Remediation Project Phase 2, approved by decree in 2020, for the removal of the two former landfills and the conclusion of the interventions on the areas within the site, mainly through the excavation and disposal of materials produced by the remediation activities.
These materials comprise both non-hazardous and hazardous waste, including Tenorm and Tenorm with asbestos, for a total volume to be managed estimated at approximately 1 million tonnes. Eni Rewind is currently implementing the monitoring activities envisaged by Phase 2 of the project, and has carried out those preparatory to the excavations, including the preliminary deposit for non-Tenorm materials.
Regarding the removal of the former landfills, Eni Rewind has repeatedly communicated and officialised to the institutions that the constraint placed in 2019 by the Regional Single Authorisation Provision not to use the landfills in Calabria, does not allow the start of the excavations, expected in 2024, given the lack of alternative destinations that are authorised and available to receive the volumes and types of waste resulting from the environmental interventions.
In order to overcome the findings raised and to identify a shared solution, Eni Rewind is continuing the institutional and technical dialogue with the authorities and with the new Government Commissioner, appointed in September 2023. Furthermore, in line with the Ordinance issued by the Province of Crotone which identified Edison as responsible for the contamination of over 90% of the areas historically occupied by the former Montecatini/Montedison plants, the environmental interventions will continue through a service contract assigned by Edison to Eni Rewind. As regards the remediation of the aquifer in the former Sasol area, again in conjunction with Edison, the company has started the emergency safety measures and has submitted the Operative Remediation Project to the authorities.