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Trash Overwhelms Naples

Posted Jan 7, 08 2:40 PM CST in World 

(Newser) – The Italian army has been brought in to clear away some of the mountains of trash blanketing the area around Naples. The region's garbage crisis, which has festered for years, reached crisis proportions when all waste-collection stopped before Christmas. Meanwhile, protesters are trying, in occasionally violent clashes, to stop the reopening of a dump closed in 1996, Reuters reports.

More than 100,000 tons of trash have piled up in the area. The waste-collection business in the region is tightly controlled by the Mafia, which is trying to stretch out the crisis to its own benefit. Some protesters are setting trash piles on fire, raising health concerns, and PM Romano Prodi has called emergency meetings about the issue.
Source: Reuters

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Unidentified residents push uncollected garbage into the middle of the streets in Naples' Sanita' neighborhood, southern Italy, Friday, Jan. 4, 2008 in what reports said was a provocation to authorities...   (Associated Press)
People walk on a road strewn with uncollected garbage and burned garbage containers in Pianura district on the outskirts of Naples, southern Italy, Monday Jan. 7, 2008. The Italian army started bulldozing...   (Associated Press)
A man handles a bag amid uncollected garbage in the Casoria district on the outskirts of Naples, Sunday Jan. 6, 2008. Collectors in Naples stopped picking up trash Dec. 21 because there is no more room...   (Associated Press)
Italian Carabinieri paramilitary police in riot gear patrol a road blocked by demonstrators to bar access to a long-closed garbage dump that authorities are trying to reopen to ease the crisis in Pianura...   (Associated Press)
Italian firefighters work to extinguish a blaze as uncollected garbage burns in Pianura district on the outskirts of Naples, southern Italy, early Saturday Jan. 5, 2008. Naples and Campania regions...   (Associated Press)
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