Yet another trash emergency is gripping the southern
city of Naples. With an estimated 3,000 tons of refuse lying in the streets of
Naples and surrounding province, frustrated residents have started throwing the
garbage bags in the middle of the streets, blocking traffic; others have been
setting the trash piles ablaze to ward off disease and pests. Firefighters in
Naples struggled to put out dozens of piles of rubbish set ablaze in early May
as 160 Italian soldiers began cleaning up the streets, sent by the Italian
government to help deal with the crisis, which presents serious health risks to
residents. City officials blame the ‘continual garbage emergency’ on the poor
functioning of the region’s waste disposal network, a lack of incinerators and
low levels of household recycling. ‘The problem won’t be resolved by the army.
Their intervention is not decisive and the impact will be limited,’ said Paolo
Giacomelli, a sanitary official for the local administration in Naples.
