Italy dump closure plans prompt fears

NAPLES, Italy – Naples’ garbage crisis may worsen with the planned weekend closure of the only working dump in the area and piles of trash growing higher, officials said Thursday.

The bleak assessment came a day after President Giorgio Napolitano warned that Naples risked an “ecological and health disaster” unless authorities worked out where to put tons of garbage that has been piling up for nearly two weeks.

Full dumps have prevented collectors from hauling away trash, and local communities have stymied government attempts to construct and operate more of the facilities.

On Saturday, authorities plan to shut the dump at Villaricca, north of Naples, exacerbating the situation, according to the office of the government-appointed “garbage czar,” Guido Bertolaso. The Villaricca dump has collected rubbish from the southern Campania region for months and is now full.

The Campania region – home to the luxurious Amalfi Coast but also the slums of Naples – has been plagued by a number of garbage crises in recent years. Dumps fill up, and local communities block efforts to build new ones or create temporary storage sites.