Italian rubbish 'tsar' outlines plan
Piles of uncollected rubbish were still clogging the streets of Naples today as Italy's new waste "tsar" outlined plans for relieving the crisis.
Gianni De Gennaro wants to reopen closed dumps, create new one and introduce temporary storage areas in an effort to get the crisis under control.
Meanwhile the political fall-out from the month-old crisis is mounting.
Environment minister Alfonso Pecoraro Scanio is scheduled to face a no-confidence vote in the Senate on Wednesday for his handling of the matter.
Premier Roman Prodi's centre-left coalition has a thin majority in the Senate, and his shaky government was rocked by the resignation last week of Justice Minister Clemente Mastella over a corruption scandal.
A loss on the confidence motion would further destabilise Mr Prodi's coalition, which ranges from pro-Vatican centrists to Communists and other radical leftists.
Today Mr Pecoraro Scanio defended his handling of the crisis and called on the government to back him in the vote. Otherwise, he warned, the Green Party, to which he belongs, would withdraw its support.
"If the majority defends my environmental positions against politicking, businessmen and the mafia, good," he said. "Otherwise, it means that they don't want the Greens in the government."
Collectors stopped picking up rubbish in Naples and its surrounding Campania region before Christmas because there was no more room at dumps in the area. Dumps are overflowing and local communities have blocked efforts to build new ones, citing health risks.
The region has long been plagued by similar crises and officials and residents say they stem from the Mafia's control of waste disposal and the government's inability to fight it.
As a result, residents routinely block attempts to open dumps, often resorting to violence.
