This White Italian Beach Has a Dark Secret

For more than a century, the coastal waters off Rosignano Solvay in Italy have been a dumping ground for millions of tons of milky white industrial discharge that have transformed the beaches — and the seabed beyond.

#Storylines #Italy #BloombergQuicktake
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[radoslavikonomov]

In Bulgaria we actually have a Solvay plant in Devnya, really close to where I live (Varna). The amount of toxic waste that's just going beside the road next to the plant is just amazing. It's the most beautiful baby blue colour you've ever seen and, of course, full of chemicals that, you can bet, go into the soil, polluting the ground water (a lot of greenhouses in the area, both privately owned and such owned by companies) and, eventually, making its way to the Black Sea. The plant is old and was previously owned by the country. It was privatized and bought by Solvay soon after some major political changes in the country (a time where anything that was in the hands of the country got sold to foreign companies) took place after 1990 (plant was bought around 1997 I think). Super shady deal for the plant itself, that literally got scooped up for a lot under market value due to corruption. That small little polluted town, sitting right next to one of the biggest cities in the country and being close to the Black Sea, is one of the richest by median salary souly because of the plant. Going in there or knowing someone from there, you'll hear the stories of people who used to work there and had to quit because of health conditions or they just retire and all of sudden start looking at their health and notice that they have some type of desiese that's already at a dangerous state. Most recently, one of their line crane carrying carts, which mind you is over an active and very busy road, broke and fell on the road, crushing the people in the car it fell on. Extremely poor management of infrastructure and waste treatment all the way, and that's just barely scratching the surface.

[akashG]

Watching these videos feels the environmental awareness must be the 1st priority in each human activity & not just bending the laws for sheer profits

[gianmariamalmesi]

How do you expect a chemical industry to be environmentally friendly especially if the majority of the shareholders are 2000 km away from the "crime" scene

[itsmegiorgio]

Being raised in the area it became increasingly sad to realise how people felt about the situation.
My inlaws would always go just beside the Spiaggie Bianche and claim water had positive effects on their joints.

[justlisten]

They have Solvayed the issue I guess you could say...

[wlfred.ed]

Now imagine this kind of pollution all across the entire planet, happens in first world countries an even worse in third world countries.

[qwanyin]

Thank you for your investigative reporting !

[stickynorth]

Thank You Bloomberg for again bringing to light an important story most overlooked! And shame on Solway!

[Khneefer]

EU regulations for air pollution from combustion plants are making standardization of way in which emision count by recalculation emission level (mg/m^3) using oxygen share in exhaust gases - you can't just add air to exhaust gases and said "it's clean now" - we need something similar for water emisions. But it's harder becouse some water can be in final product oraz be evaporated by cooling towers.

[rext]

The EU has some of the toughest rules, regulations and stringent penalties for violations in the world to protect the environment. So how did this elephant not only happen to sashay so easily through but continue to do so till now? Didn't someone inform Margrethe Vestager?

[conniepritchardreinhardt]

The beach is the prettiest I have ever seen. Scary that I had no idea this was why. I was 27 when I was there. I am in my, 50's now. Wow.

[albertolamandini]

I've been to that beach when I was a kid. My parents knew it was polluted but let me bathe, just told me to be careful not to drink any water. As the video shows, there were a lot of people just bathing there, as you would see in any other beach.

[ShhhHhhhz]

big brain moment right there, its like saying this drink is too sweet i'll have diabetes and you're being told don't worry just add more water. but still the amount of sugar remains the same

[yuzzo]

The even darker secret is how the company corrupted everyone to get away with it when facing justice and at the same time they made themselves look glorious by making a lot of investments locally, so they ironically are treated like heroes due to their sugar-daddy-ish behaviour with nearby towns.

It's not even as much about the company itself: i'd expect a giant like that to corrupt. It's more about how literally anybody else was willing to let themselves be corrupted when said giant was polluting their land.

[albeit]

They’re also making mercury levels increase in fish for the entire world.

[heknowsall]

This is the kind of thing that will be the end of us all. Dead oceans mean dead humans or anything with a heart beat.

[RomanMapper]

As an Italian I say that unfortunately this is a sad reality that breaks my heart, but fortunately this is not normal in fact we have natural white beaches like those in Puglia and in other parts of Italy. I hope all this ends soon

[ChiaraMagix]

It's sad to know but many beaches in Italy have some kind of a waste coming directly to the sea. It's especially common in South Italy.

[Diana-ogel]

Thanks for your video! I'm planning to go there this summer 😮

[CBeard]

Company Towns always control the with the local politicians.