Naples waste management issue

Uncollected garbage in Naples, 2010.

The Naples waste management crisis was a series of events surrounding the lack of waste collection in the city of Naples that peaked in the summer of 2008, but carries on to the present day.

Background

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

Reports during the summer of 2008 stated that the problem was caused at least in part by the Camorra, a powerful local mafia based in Campania, who had created a lucrative business in the municipal waste disposal business. Heavy metals, industrial waste and chemicals and household waste are frequently mixed together, dumped near roads and burnt to avoid detection, leading to severe soil and air pollution.^[1]

Government dumping plans

In January 2008 Romano Prodi’s government announced plans for the solution of the crisis including the building of three new incinerators. Prodi appointed a former national police chief as waste commissioner and the army was called in to bulldoze the waste from the streets of Caserta while protesters clashed with police in central Naples. But no real progress had been made by May of that year, when Prodi's government was defeated in the general election. At that time over 200000 tonnes of waste still remained on the streets.

Crisis solution

The newly elected Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi took immediate action, and held his first cabinet meeting in Naples.^[2] He then appointed a new waste commissioner, Guido Bertolaso (then the head of the Civil Protection Department). Bertolaso faced similar protests from the residents of Naples, but during June and July of 2008 he dealt with the problem. He opened new landfill sites and an incinerator. In addition he sent 700 tons of rubbish a day to incinerators in Hamburg, Germany, while new incinerators should be built locally.^[3] By the end of July, Berlusconi declared that the emergency was closed.^[4] By September the rubbish had gone from the streets of Naples^[5],

In March 2009, waste commissioner Bertolaso was transferred to Rome, to deal with a fresh high-profile problem^{[citation needed]} even though great amounts of garbage were still stocked in temporary sites awaiting to be disposed. Likewise, in many municipalities on Naples' periphery there is still a garbage problem. Though Berlusconi's actions have cleaned up the city of Naples, one account states that as of September 2009, "the highways and byways of the rural south remain festering dumping grounds."^[6]

Newsweek reported that in October 2010, riots near Terzigno halted garbage collection again in Naples, leading to "overflowing bins and renewed international attention", and "new calls for [Berlusconi's] resignation and allegations that his government is in bed with the mob". The riots occurred after the government announced another 3-million-metric-ton landfill would be constructed within Vesuvius National Park; residents, already upset by toxic waste levels at a nearby landfill, were said to believe that much of the garbage going into the new landfill would be "illegally imported by the Camorra" and would be similarly uncontrolled.^[7]

See also

Italy portal

• Biùtiful cauntri, a 2007 documentary film about the environmental problems relating to the waste dumping
• Triangle of death (Italy)

References

1. ^ Mafia at centre of Naples' rubbish mess January 09 2008 at 06:08PM. By Emmanuelle Andreani. Der Spiegel: In Naples, Waste Is Pure Gold Retrieved 20th March 2009
2. ^ Peter Popham (22 May 2008), written at Naples, "Berlusconi takes Cabinet to Naples to tackle rubbish", The Independent (England), http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/berlusconi-takes-cabinet-to-naples-to-tackle-rubbish-832151.html, retrieved 2009-03-20 
3. ^ Charles Hawley and Josh Ward (3 July 2008), written at Naples, "Psychologists to Counsel Italians on Garbage Crisis", Der Spiegel (Germany), http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/0,1518,563704,00.html, retrieved 2009-03-20 
4. ^ The end of the emergency is covered in the following newspaper articles:
   • Bufi, Fulvio (16 July 2008), written at Naples, "Il ritorno a Napoli di Berlusconi: «È finita l'emergenza rifiuti»", Corriere della Sera (Milan), http://www.corriere.it/cronache/08_luglio_16/ritorno_napoli_berlusconi_emergenza_rifiuti_4e416e48-5300-11dd-a364-00144f02aabc.shtml, retrieved 2008-08-26 ;
   • Unsigned article (18 July 2008), written at Naples, "Berlusconi: "Napoli è pulita. L'emergenza rifiuti è finita"", La Repubblica (Rome), http://www.repubblica.it/2008/07/sezioni/cronaca/rifiuti-13/berlusconi-emergenza/berlusconi-emergenza.html, retrieved 2008-08-26 .
5. ^ Paolo Tullio (06 September 2008), written at Naples, "Of buffaloes, mozzarella and brothers", The Independent (Ireland), http://www.independent.ie/lifestyle/food-drink/of-buffaloes-mozzarella--and-brothers-1470543.html, retrieved 2009-03-20 
6. ^ Totaro, Paola (2009-09-04). "It's a dog's life in a land of sublime beauty". WA Today (Australia: Fairfax Digital). http://www.watoday.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/its-a-dogs-life-in-a-land-of-sublime-beauty-20090904-fbe9.html. Retrieved 2009-09-29. 
7. ^ Naples Blasts Berlusconi as Garbage Piles Up, Newsweek. Fetched from URL on 27 October, 2010.

External links

Press reports

• Reuters (9 July 2007), U.S. warns citizens over Naples garbage crisis, Rome: Reuters, http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSL097663020070709 .
• CNN (7 January 2008), PM attempts to tackle Naples trash crisis, Rome: CNN, http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/01/07/naples.rubbish/index.html .
• Vinci, Alessio (8 January 2008), Why Naples is drowning in garbage, Rome: CNN, http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/01/07/naples.rubbish.background/ .
• BBC News (8 January 2008), ‘Trash tsar’ to clear Naples dirt, BBC, http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7176378.stm .
• AFP Staff writers (22 January 2008), Naples under 3,500 tonnes of garbage as strike endures, Rome: Agence France-Presse, http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Naples_under_3500_tonnes_of_garbage_as_strike_endures_999.html .
• Pomeroy, Robin (5 February 2008), Ryanair uses Italy trash for advert after Sarkozy, Rome: Reuters, http://uk.reuters.com/article/businessNews/idUKL058687920080205 .
• Vinci, Alessio (21 May 2008), Berlusconi vows to fight trash crisis, Rome: CNN, http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/05/21/naples.trash/ .
• Viggiano, Laura (23 May 2008), Police clash with protesters over Naples trash law, Naples: Reuters, http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSL23320610 .
• Ingiusto, Dario (3 june 2011), A map of Chiaiano's dump, in Naples' north, Bologna: Mapping the World, http://www.cartografareilpresente.org/article683.html?lang=en .
• Laboratorio Campano