Saturday, January 12, 2008

The Italian Rubbish Problem

A lot of anger has been displayed by ordinary Neapolitans as well, after they read that according to the British medical journal The Lancet the incidence of liver cancer has risen alarmingly among those living near the bursting rubbish dumps in what used to be one of the great capitals of the Mediterranean.

Dangerous toxins are leaching into the soil - perhaps the water supply as well - from piles of rubbish which have littered the area for years...

The practical problems of rubbish collection in Naples are complicated by the fact that the local organised crime network, known as the Camorra, has created a multi-billion dollar industry of waste management in and around the city.

The Camorra transports huge quantities of waste from northern Europe at cut prices and dumps it illegally around the Naples area. Not only that, but it also sabotages the municipal garbage trucks paid for by Neapolitan taxpayers in order to transport the local rubbish themselves, at a profit.

-The putrid problem of Italian politics

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