The Italian government on Tuesday named one of Italy's most decorated policemen to tackle the Naples waste crisis.
Ex-national police chief Gianni De Gennaro, 59, was given a three-month mandate to clean up the Campania region, bringing new systems on line and banishing the shadow of the Camorra crime syndicate.
As waste czar, he will have ''full powers'' to see that ''a permanent solution'' is found to Campania's recurrent waste woes, Premier Romano Prodi said.
De Gennaro, who made his name working with slain anti-Mafia judge Giovanni Falcone and ended a Camorra turf war three years ago, will have use of the Italian army.
Franco Giannini, 58, a general decorated for peacekeeping in Kosovo, will act as De Gennaro's deputy.
The government has already found several local sites to dump the rubbish clogging the streets of Naples and Campania, Prodi said.
The premier said he would pick out other dumps and landfills across Italy in a meeting with governors of other regions on Wednesday.
Three new incinerators will be built to receive waste, Prodi added.
The first of these is already under construction and is expected to come on line in about a year.
Local mayors will have the same term as De Gennaro, three months, to introduce recycling schemes across the region, on pain of being put under government commissioners.
All the existing consortia that handle waste business - many of them suspected of Mob links - will be replaced by new firms, Prodi said.
A new Campania waste commissioner will be named within two weeks.
The premier unveiled his plans amid news of fresh clashes between protesters and police outside a dump that is to be reopened to take the first batches of waste.
The landfill site was closed in 1996 with a pledge to turn it into a golf course.
Local residents say the waste inside it is still dangerous.
It has become the focus of violence over the last week as protesters have blocked streets, burned cars and attacked police with rocks and Molotov cocktails.
The toll of injuries from the clashes rose to 20 on Tuesday, evenly divided between the police and demonstrators.
Two people were arrested as hundreds of people from the adjoining district took to the streets.
The centre-right opposition dismissed Prodi's plan as ''merely a set of announcements'' and reiterated calls for Campania officials to resign or be sacked.
Waste crises have hit Campania regularly for the last 15 years, coupled with protests against new disposal plans.
According to Italian environmental organisations, the region's residents face serious health risks from the tonnes of toxic waste that have been buried across the region, much of it illegally.
Local prosecutors on Tuesday began probes to see whether the latest health risks had been effectively tackled.
