Italian police raid polluting car washes
Carabinieri in Ostia have fined six car wash operators around Rome after they carried out a raid aimed at enforcing environmental protection and workplace safety regulations.
A series of car washes in Ostia, Palocco, Fregene, Ponte Galeria and Vitinia were found to dump their wastewater in a ‘substandard way’. Six operators were fined for a total of 25,830 euros.
Many of the fined car washes could not provide the required permits for the discharge of wastewater into the sewer, nor could they show the required annual waste report.
The biggest fine (€4,133) went to an undisclosed car wash in Casal Palocco, for the complete absence of any administration around wastewater and its disposal.
It is believed that many hand car washes in Italy are in the hands of the local mafia, who use the companies as a money laundering tool and don’t care at all about environmental laws.
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