Naples waste management issue

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The Naples waste management issue was a series of events surrounding the lack of garbage collection in the city of Naples.

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[edit] Background

Since the mid-1990's, Naples and the Campania region has suffered from the dumping of human waste and garbage into overfilled landfills. Beginning on Dec. 21, 2007, the municipal workers refused to pick up any further trash; as a result, the trash had begun to appear as regular fixtures on the streets of Naples, posing severe health risks to the metropolitan population. On Dec. 31, the government closed one of two major dumps near the city at the request of the city's residents.

It has been assumed that that Camorra, a powerful local mafia based in Campania, has created a lucrative business in the municipal waste disposal business. Heavy metals, industrial waste and chemicals and household garbage are frequently mixed together, dumped near roads and burnt to avoid detection, leading to a severe soil and air pollution.

[edit] Government dumping plans

In January 2008, under the Romano Prodi government, plans for rectification of the crisis included the building of three new incinerators, and Prodi appointed a former national police chief as trash commissioner. The army was also called in to bulldoze the trash from the streets of Caserta while protesters clashed with police in the Naples downtown area; . However, over 200,000 tons of trash on the streets remained by the time that Prodi's government fell, and his government was criticized for its handling of the crisis.

Prodi's successor, Silvio Berlusconi, continued with plans in May to use brute force to solve the trash crisis. He appointed a new trash commissioner, Guido Bertolaso (then the head of the Civil Protection Department), and faced new protests from Naples residents.

[edit] Illegal burning of waste

[edit] anti-dumping Protests

[edit] External Links