Operations begin to dig Naples out of rubbish crisis

0 Comments | AFP, January, 2008

NAPLES, Italy (AFP) — Barges loaded with hundreds of tonnes of rubbish were set to arrive in Sardinia from Naples on Thursday as operations began to end a weeks-old waste disposal crisis in Italy's southern Campania region.

Tensions remained high around a toxic dump in a western Naples suburb that authorities want to reopen, while several hundred people protested near a Sardinian dump against the decision to ship rubbish to landfills there, the ANSA news agency reported.

Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi on Tuesday unveiled a campaign to bring a definitive end to a recurring overload of the region's dysfunctional waste disposal system that has seen more than 100,000 tonnes of rubbish accumulate in Campania since late last month.

Under the four-month plan,...