The diving gondoliers help clean the canals by collecting the plastic one day a month

“It seems incredible, but the waste that most reemerges from the canals of Venice are tires. Of all kinds. But from the seabed we have recovered boat engines, building materials, shopping trolleys and even an old typewriter and a bicycle. But not. we stop here. Soon on the gondolas there will be a net with which we will ‘fish’ the plastic that floats. Even if we are with the tourists “. Andrea Balbi, the canals of Venice knows them well, is the president of the Association of gondoliers, one of the oldest in the city. The years spent rowing through increasingly clogged canals convinced him and his colleagues that it was time to help clear the canals. “A gesture to show the love we have for Veneziaa”.

Every time they go down the canals, the gondoliers of the Scuba Divers Group recover between 4 and 6 tons of waste: pieces of furniture, construction waste and everyday life. And lots of plastic. A large amount of garbage accumulated on the seabed over the years, contributing to polluting it and muddying its waters.

But the initiative that had started on an experimental basis, given the results, has now been the subject of a real agreement between the association headed by Andrea Balbi and the council of the mayor of Venice, Luigi Brugnaro. With a lot of resolution that contains the guidelines for the realization of a new cycle of interventions for a period of two years. Once a month. It starts on October 30th, then November 27th and December 18th. Obviously, gondoliers cannot load washing machines and tires on the gondola. “The Municipality makes Veritas boats available to us, because the ones we collect are considered special waste and must be disposed of in a certain way. Furthermore, we need the police patrol to close the canals to traffic”.

A net on the gondola to “fish” the plastic

“However, we are concerned above all with plastic, which is why we came up with the idea of ​​the net – explains Andrea Balbi, and for once, he doesn’t blame the tourists – People who make the fateful ‘bad gesture’ are really rare, like throwing a can in the canal. Often these are plastic bags dragged by the wind, bottles and glasses dropped by mistake. The situation is different for the tires, usually used as fenders for boats carrying goods: often the ropes come loose and they fall into the water. There is no possibility of catching them because they lie on the bottom and do not rise to the surface. We are trying to persuade the Venetians to use light fenders that if they come loose, they float. Another small change “.

Sentinels of the city

But the gondoliers who row between the Grand Canal and in the canals along the foundations are like “sentinels” of Venice, whose problems and wounds they see. “What are we worried about? Beyond the plastic in the water, the wave motion caused by motor boats. There are too many and it is not sustainable – the president of the gondoliers says in no uncertain terms – Mind you, we are not against each other: we who go rowing and those who go by motor, but we must preserve this city and only by looking at it from the water you can perceive the damage it creates the wave motion. And we, who have spent years along the same channels, realize how visible they are now. For example, in the foundations of buildings. It is precisely there that year after year we see injuries that become more and more serious. More and more complicated to solve. Our city is too fragile to wait any longer “.