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December 2, 2008 9:17:20 PM CST

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7 Stories

Under Italy's Mob, Toxic
Trash Heaps Growing

Intimidation rife as garbage threatens public health

Los Angeles Times Los Angeles Times Aug 30, 08 3:24 PM CDT
(Newser) - Heaps of garbage tower in southern Italy’s legal and illegal dumps, and may even be contributing to cancer and birth defects in the area—but the mafia’s grip on disposal makes it near impossible to fix the problem, the Los Angeles Times reports. “For years the waste has been accumulating, nothing has been done to clean it up, and the consequences are lethal,” says an “eco-mafia” prosecutor. More »

More about:  Italy • pollution • Mafia • garbage • landfill • intimidation • toxins

 Italy Calls In Shrinks
 for Garbage Crisis 

Berlusconi dispatches psychologists as part of promise to clean up mess

Der Spiegel Der Spiegel Jul 3, 08 8:50 PM CDT
(Newser) - Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has a “final solution" to Naples' trash problem—and it includes psychologists, Der Spiegel reports. Naples, whose overflowing landfills have led to intermittently trash-choked streets for years, will soon be invaded by an army of volunteers, including a group of psychologists trained in counseling disaster survivors. Berlusconi has also pledged to clean up the garbage. More »

More about:  Italy • Silvio Berlusconi • garbage • Naples • landfill • psychologist

OPINION

 Artists Are Making
 Junk—Literally 

Despite greenie claims, they flush chemicals, abandon art pieces

Chronicle of Higher Education Chronicle of Higher Education May 30, 08 8:25 PM CDT
(Newser) - Beware the scruffy artists at the corner cafe—they may be serial polluters and not even know it, Laurie Fendrich writes in the Chronicle of Higher Education . Many painters, tree-huggers by claim, will flush chemicals down the drain, and ignore the carbon footprint of their synthetic pigments. They just "think of their paints as gooey stuff that can be turned into a nice painting," Fendrich writes. More »

More about:  art • artist • environmental damage • toxic chemicals • landfill • toxic waste

As World's Belly Rumbles, Gluttonous US Tosses Food 

27% of available food ends up in the trash

New York Times New York Times May 18, 08 11:06 AM CDT
(Newser) - Americans throw out roughly a quarter of all food available for consumption, even as grocery prices skyrocket and global riots break out over food shortages, the New York Times reports. That works out to about a pound of food every day for every American—from grocery stories tossing spoiled produce to restaurants scrapping uneaten dishes to home cooks pitching uneaten leftovers in the fridge. More »

More about:  food • food prices • donation • food shortage • waste • landfill

Plasma May Zap City's Garbage Crisis

New tech could burn off Vancouver's garbage and make electricity

Canada.com Feb 17, 08 6:48 PM CST
(Newser) - Vancouver may have a fix for its garbage overflow crisis: Burn the trash into a gas that makes electricity. A Canadian company called Plasco Energy Group has proposed a plant that zaps waste into ionized gas, or plasma; about a fifth of it would run the plant and the rest could be sold off. A few plasma plants by other companies have reportedly tanked, but the Vancouver Sun 's Harvey Enchin urges the city to try this one. More »

More about:  energy • garbage • Vancouver • waste • trash • landfill

Tax Helped the Irish Bag Plastic

When gov't enacted 33-cent tax, usage dropped 94% in weeks

New York Times New York Times Feb 6, 08 12:13 PM CST
(Newser) - "Paper or plastic?" is perhaps the last question you'll hear on the Emerald Isle, thanks to a 33-cent tax on each plastic bag that cut Irish consumption by 94% within weeks of its 2002 enactment, reports the New York Times . Cloth bags have become downright fashionable since, but strong manufacturer and merchant opposition has hindered similar efforts in Britain and LA, and laws elsewhere have met mixed results. More »

More about:  environmentalism • taxes • Ireland • plastic • plastic bags • supermarket • landfill • paper bags

Naples Reeks as Garbage Dumps, Landfills Close

Trash crisis in
tourist mecca heats up along with weather

New York Times New York Times May 31, 07 6:31 AM CDT
(Newser) - Mounds of smelly garbage are piling up in the streets of Naples, as a shortage of places to dump it has reached a crisis: the last landfill in Naples closed Saturday. Italian President Giorgio Napolitano is pleading with politicians and citizens to save the the country's image, the Times reports. More »

More about:  Italy • garbage • trash • Naples • landfill • Giorgio Napolitano

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