Italy Given One Month to Solve Waste Crisis

Italy Given One Month to Solve Waste Crisis



Feb, 2008  - The European Commission giving 
the government of Italy just one month to clean up the waste crisis 
plaguing Naples and the rest of the Campania region or face a potentially 
costly lawsuit. Since just before Christmas, thousands of tons of garbage 
have been left uncollected by the roadsides because waste disposal sites 
are full. 
The final written warning issued today by the Commission means that Italy 
will be hauled up before the European Court of Justice unless it brings 
arrangements for dealing with waste in the region fully into line with the 
requirements of EU waste legislation. Italy risks huge fines if the EU 
takes the country to court. 

The Italian government estimates more than 250,000 metric tons of garbage 
have accumulated on the roads. 
This situation has led to incidents in which angry residents have set fire 
to waste piles in the streets. The uncollected waste and the open fires 
pose serious health and environmental risks through the spread of disease 
and pollution of air, water and land. 
While Italy has already taken some measures to deal with the waste crisis, 
in view of the situation’s urgency and gravity, the Commission is giving 
Italy just one month to respond instead of the usual two month deadline. 
Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas said, “The situation in Campania is 
intolerable and I fully understand the frustrations of residents who fear 
for their health. It is essential that the Italian authorities not only 
take effective measures to resolve the current emergency, as they are 
already doing, but also put in place the waste management infrastructure 
needed to provide a sustainable solution to problems which date back more 
than a decade." 
"The Commission will continue its legal action, and if necessary use its 
powers to seek fines, until the situation in Campania is brought into line 
with the EU waste management standards that Italy and all other member 
states have agreed to," Dimas said. 
EU waste law, known as the Waste Framework Directive, requires member 
states to prevent waste from being abandoned, dumped or disposed of in an 
uncontrolled way. They must ensure that waste is recovered or disposed of 
without endangering human health or harming the environment. Measures must 
be taken to establish an adequate network of disposal installations to 
ensure a high level of protection for the environment and human health. 
Early in January, Prime Minister Romano Prodi appointed former national 
police chief Gianni De Gennaro as special commissioner to handle the 
garbage problem. Prodi gave him four months to resolve the crisis, which 
has resulted from decades of political weakness and corruption in waste 
disposal at the hands of the local mafia. 

On January 21, De Gennaro announced that the government will reopen three 
rubbish dumps across Campania and establish three temporary storage sites, 
including one in a Naples suburb where residents repeatedly have clashed 
with police. 
De Gennaro, a former police chief, said that by February 5 at the latest, 
with the dumps reopened, trash collectors would begin disposing of the 
daily trash output of about 7,000 metric tons and begin dealing with the 
backlog. 
Residents suspect the "temporary" sites will become permanent. After a 
brief meeting with De Gennaro Tuesday, a resident who wished to remain 
unidentified said the commissioner has given no date by which the 
temporary sites will be closed. 
Since mid-January authorities in Naples have been shipping mountains of 
trash to other parts of Italy, but the deliveries have led to protests. 
Piles of Naples' garbage were set ablaze on the island of Sardinia. 
The Commission sent Italy a first warning letter over the situation in 
Campania last June. This action was taken after garbage in the region had 
been left uncollected for a period during the spring of 2007, forcing the 
closure of schools on health grounds and leading residents to set fire to 
piles of rubbish bags in the streets. 
The Italian government responded to that episode by adopting a decree-law 
setting out emergency measures for the region including the opening of 
four new waste landfill sites. 

Still, the Commission concluded that the decree-law provided only limited 
solutions because it failed to take a systematic and long-term approach to 
resolving a crisis that has been caused by the Italian authorities’ 
systematic failure to provide for an adequate network of waste disposal 
installations in Campania, Dimas said. 
In the light of Italy’s response to the first letter and meetings with the 
Italian authorities, including a visit by officials from the Commission’s 
Directorate-General for Environment to see the situation in Campania at 
first hand, the Commission concluded that more action was needed by the 
Italian authorities. 
Last October the Commission sent Italy an additional letter of formal 
notice pointing to the lack of a waste management plan for Campania as 
required by EU law. A waste management plan for the region was adopted 
more than 10 years ago but never properly implemented. 
In view of the continuing and apparently worsening waste crisis in 
Campania seen in recent weeks, the Commission said the Italian authorities 
need to redouble their efforts to resolve both the immediate crisis and 
the longer term structural problems resulting from the region’s inadequate 
waste disposal infrastructure. 
The new emergency measures set out in the legal notice adopted by the 
Italian government on January 11, should help to improve the situation in 
the short term, but they fail to provide a longer term solution to ensure 
waste management in Campania in a manner consistent with European 
legislation. 
Given the potentially grave health and environmental problems posed by the 
continuing crisis the Commission said that, while welcoming the efforts 
undertaken by the Italian authorities to solve the crisis, it has no 
option but to continue the infringement procedure by sending Italy a final 
written warning. 

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