Naples and the rubbish

[elainecraig]

Is the strike over? I cant seem to find any info on websites anywhere?

[Nielo]

Not only is the problem not yet solved but also it is now spreading to laces like Capri.
&nbsp CAPRI CAUGHT UP IN NAPLES TRASH CRISIS

[elainecraig]

Its always the people who suffer, landfill is being outlawed from Brussels even the mafia dont stand a chance to try and stop it they'll just have to build the incinerators probably out of bad concrete and tin foil.

[daniel.wyckoff]

There never was a strike. They just don't have any place to put it. It is all controlled by the cammorra and it seems the government can't get around it. An Italian friend of mine is very passionate about it. They have 2 new incinerators that they want to use but the people who are near it are demonstrating against it say that the fumes would be harmful , yet they have no problem with lighting off the mounds of trash in the streets. Since the Amalfi coast is a big tourist attraction, they have the money to take their trash back to the Naples area and dump it somewhere, but sooner or later they just won't have room. The government down there just needs to get some cajones and go against the mob.
The U.S. State Department issued a warning a few months ago to Americans not to travel to that area because of the harmful fumes and rats. The Mayor of Naples wanted them to retract the statement because it was hurting tourism.Well, Duh, do something about it.
I will have to ask my friends in Naples if it's still a mess.

[pigro]

Originally Posted by daniel.wyckoff

I will have to ask my friends in Naples if it's still a mess.

drove down from Umbria to Naples Port last week - didn't appear to be any dirtier than I remember from last visit (about 7 years ago).

re. spreading to Capri ... I was there last weekend and it was as clean and appealing as ever. No rubbish probelms evident (though there was a lot of graffitti at the back end of Capri town, dissapointing to see in such a beautiful place).

[adriatica]

the incinerators that are there in naples have specific things they are allowed to burn or not and htey are supposed to also supply energy...

the problem is that the sorting factories which provide the burning materail are run in such a way...that all materail goes in and almost exactley the same amount comes out... because they have altered the sorting function to allow them to produce more bails which then give them higher profits as each bale gets a grant and at certain levels incentive grants kick in as well..so reach a target and you get another million euro say..

so the residents were right the fumes are harmful because its burning toxic unsorted waste which they were not designed to do...

the incinerators/power stations that do this also have very sophisticated monitoring to shut down if the levels go higher than allowed... by agreement this was turned off... and also the furnaces burn and reburn and gas from the burns and then filter what does come outhowever the burning process was also speeded up... dirty stuff was coming out

so what happened magistrates have closed it all down... but they have sites with several million plastic wrapped bales that were due to be incinerated but now cannot be because they were never sorted...

meantime the president just visted naples again... residents suggest that he makes a daily visit because its the first time that some of the streets in the non tourist areas have been cleaned for a year...

and the piles of rubbish are just pushed out of site to allow the image of a clean city and still no solution of any real value has been found... the politicians of the arae both city and province are known to have made huge amounts out of billions of euro poured into the problem from both central and european governmentn ... the rubbish is being dumped in a re opened and temporary site...when it is collected from the city centre areas...the suburbs are still suffering from lack of rubbish clearance... and it will all grind again to a halt once the temporary solution comes to an end...

[Gerard Gaillard]

I have just returned from a visit to Lazio and Abruzzo. (but its equaly bad in Tuscany and Puglia) I must say that I am shocked (repeatedly) with the amount of litter along the main roads.
Not only does not seem to be collected but people dont seem to have the slightest quarm to add to this eyesore. There seems to be a little fettish with outdoor sex too - but let leave it at that....

I guess I will have to get used to it, but I wonder what the cause is as the Italians I met seem just as outraged but feel powerless?

Schooling,Collection,Fines is my advise!

[Sharon]

Is there any update on this? We were thinking of a trip to naples in may, but maybe not a good idea?

[Nardini]

The situation in Naples is not a simple one of people striking for something in the manner we usually associate with a strike. It is a very much more complex situation than that - one which will not be solved by any amount of intervention by forces outside of Naples.

The Camorra have, amongst other things, had a profitable business for many years removing toxic waste from factories, plants and facilities across Europe. The waste - solid or liquid - is dumped in a great many illegal sites dotted all across Campania, controlled by the various Camorra systems. Household waste is then dumped over the top when full to make it look like ordinary waste. A very simple "scheme".

With the introduction of incinerators, this particular "business" will be badly hit - leaving the Camorristi to find ways to protect their interests. This is what we are witnessing in and around Naples now.

The solution is, as always in Naples, not easy to see as the Camorristi are fighting tooth and nail to protect their "interests".

There is a book that you could read which will help your understanding of the whole Camorra issue - Gomorrah - Italy's Other Mafia, by Roberto Saviano. The English translation is very good as well, so - another book for the bookshelf.

[Paul_m]

This is worrying us too - not just the rubbish but, I read the other day, four killings to date. We're planning on going to Puglia and other parts of the south but having a couple of days in Naples for the museum and Pompeii. Should we be developing a plan B? I take it that there's no problem just passing through Naples?