First phase: set up dumps for 1 mln tons of refuse - The commissioner appointed by the government to resolve the Naples rubbish emergency said on Monday that he had to find places to put almost a million tons of rubbish within ten days.
Announcing his plan in Naples, Gianni De Gennaro said he was ordering three old dumps in the Campania region around Naples to be re-opened and had identified three sites at which refuse could be stored provisionally.
Adding the new capacity to existing trash disposal facilities, it should be possible to remove around 900,000 tons of waste from towns and cities in the region within a further ten days, he said. ''The plan will work if there are no snags. If there are any, they will have to be overcome,'' De Gennaro said, in a remark taken to mean that protests by local people over waste sites would cut no ice.
''We've tried to divide the sites up equally among the provinces,'' he noted.
The former national police chief said it was essential to establish a system capable of handling at least 10,000 tons of rubbish a day. Once started, the system could not stop without creating a new crisis.
Within two weeks, the plan envisages a concerted effort being made to begin sorting and recycling rubbish in Campania, where efforts in this direction have so far been largely unsuccessful.
As De Gennaro was explaining his plan, the trash emergency continued unabated in many parts of the region, with sacks of rubbish still lining streets and, in at least one instance, burying a car. During the night rubbish which has been lying uncollected for three weeks was set on fire in 43 different localities and there were more protests on Monday. Some schools were open but many weren't.
The situation was worsened by the breakage of a key water pipe near Striano which left several towns, including Pompei and Torre Anunziata, without a water supply.
Meanwhile, the political fallout from the continuing crisis threatens to strike a fresh blow to the centre-left government of Romano Prodi.
The centre-right opposition has tabled a no-confidence motion against Environment Minister Alfonso Pecoraro Scanio, whom it accuses of being ultimately responsible for the rubbish crisis.
Because Prodi has such a tiny majority in the Senate and a few allies have already said they won't support Pecoraro Scanio, the motion could pass.
