NAPLES – Signora Maria Veroli doesn’t know whether to laugh or cry. She moved to Brescia years ago and for her, separating household refuse is as natural as brushing her teeth. She has her three bags: one for paper, one for plastic and one for fruit and vegetable waste. A few days ago, however, she returned to San Giorgio a Cremano to stay with relatives. That’s why she is here in Via Manzoni, standing between the windows of the Gargiulo florist’s shop and Don Pasquale car accessories. In front of her is a pile of refuse two metres high and sixty-five paces long. The locals assure her that underneath it all there are two skips. Signora Maria can only throw her three bags onto the top of the heap. There’s no separate collection here: the bags lie where they fall. San Giorgio a Cremano is one of the municipalities where the situation is most critical but the whole of Campania is in difficulty. About 100,000 tons of refuse lies in roads all over the region. And now a concerned European Union is threatening sanctions. “We’re following the situation in Campania very closely”, said the EU commissioner for the environment, Stavros Dimas, “and over the next few days we’ll be considering whether to take further measures”, In June, Brussels opened an infringement procedure against Italy for failing to comply with waste disposal guidelines. Soon, Italy could be facing a fine or the loss of some funding. From San Giorgio a Cremona, that looks like the least of our worries.
PLAN APPROVED TWELVE YEARS AGO – Twelve years ago, Campania approved a plan that would have been ambitious in Switzerland. No landfills, no recycling: all waste would go to produce refuse-derived fuel. Sadly, the waste-to-energy plants were never built because people took fright and protested. And now no one knows what to do with the “ecoballs”, the treated waste that is ready to be burned, partly because the quality turned out to be extremely poor and nobody wants them, in Italy or abroad. The upshot is that the refuse is not collected and the air in the streets is unbreathable. They call it an emergency but that is stretching a point: the story has been dragging on for a decade. Nor should you let yourself be deceived by Naples, which gets special treatment before visitors arrive during the holidays. There are now “only” five hundred tons of rubbish in the streets but if you leave the city centre and head out along the ring road, you get an idea. In the rest of the province, there are 40,000 tons of rubbish lying in the open air, as much again in the province of Caserta and a further 20,000 tons in the provinces of Salerno, Avellino and Benevento. January’s cold weather is helping to keep the risk of infection under control but there is also a risk of dioxin exposure. Only last night, fire fighters answered seventy-five calls to put out heaps of burning rubbish. The situation is at its most critical at Pianura, just outside Agnano. In the Pisani district is one of the landfills that the special commissioner, Umberto Cimmino, wants to reopen to beat the crisis. About a hundred protesters have blocked the access road. Yesterday morning, the demonstrators were moved on by police but they are determined not to give in. In 2005, the landfill was scheduled, after forty years’ meritorious service, to become the region’s biggest golf course with eighteen holes, a conference centre and two large hotels. The last thing locals want to see is the return of those stinking refuse wagons.
Lorenzo Salvia

English translation by Giles Watson
http://www.corriere.it/english/articoli/2008/01_Gennaio/03/pezzo.shtml

Does anyone know why the waste-to-energy plants were scrapped? What was the citizenry frightened of? Economy or environmental impacts?

I hope this situation is taken care off before it becomes a part of Italy's landscape (especially in the mind of potential tourists).

Oh the problems of what to do with the rubbish of Naples has been going on since I was a child.. (I'm now 46) and probably long before that. It happens on a very regular basis (about every two or three years) and then the Neapolitans get really annoyed and kick up a stink (no pun intended) until the rubbish is sorted out.. until next time.

There are (I think) 7 sites that were built to deal with the rubbish - all supposed to be "state of the art" but 5 or 6 of them have been closed down with Court Orders because they are unsafe and don't burn/dispose of the rubbish correctly and release toxic gases. Billions of euros have been "invested" in sorting this problem out - most of it probably lining the pockets of certain people. Many of the main contracts were issued to compaines run by the Camorra, who don't care where it gets dumped or how it's disposed of.

There are also certain areas where toxic waste has been dumped on and into the land that poisions the grass that feeds the cows that gives the milk to make the Mozzarella that we eat...

It's an age old scandal.

So is it the long arm of the Camorra that really keeps this problem from being resolved? Besides the impact environmentally, it's just plain nasty in this day and age.

I live in Sardinia which was the first Italian region to accept refuse from Naples. Since the decision was taken 3 ships containing rubbish have docked in Cagliari. Although the TV news has shown protests at the port, there is generally acceptance by the population here that Sardinia should help Naples, not because they have a particular relationship with the city, but because this is a national problem and everyone should do what they can to help.

The rubbish is being taken to three sites in Macchiareddu, Villacidro and Ozieri where it is being incinerated. From what I read in the local press the site in Macchiareddu, which is accepting the majority of the refuse, is one of the most advanced processing plants in Italy and the resultant effect on the environment is within accepted levels. Obviously no effect on the environment would be better but one has to be realistic and make do with what is currently available.

What hasn't been mentioned in the international press, that I have seen, is that a large part of the refuse is being sent to Germany where they have developed some recycling plants which are years ahead of anything available anywhere else in Europe.

We struggle in this part of the world too - The area I live in - Seattle - is beautiful with a wonderful environment. But we struggle protecting it - Our water waste, solid waste (garbage)and keeping the air clean too - Thankfully, the rain helps in some ways!

We have very restrictive but very high recycling abilities. This means penalties for NOT recycling. Home water waste is treated and returned to the environment - Outdoor water is harder to treat and remains a challenge. Currently, we are fighting a bitter battle over nuclear waste and what to do with the stockpile.
Incineration is an unfortunate method but better than piles of waste in the streets or land fills.....
Perhaps dumping in Vesuvius has it's merits after all....