Wednesday, January 16, 2008

TALKING RUBBISH

Update, 17.1.08: Just saw this in Telegraph online.
Domestic rubbish continues to pile up in Naples, where the landfills are full and promised new incinerators have not been built. The background to this story is here and for the past two weeks things have become nastier and nastier, with effigies of Prodi and the Mayor of Naples having been burnt and left hanging from trees last week. Finally the problem has impacted upon Sicily, where there have been some scuffles between protestors and the authorities as the island has been asked to accept some of the Campania's refuse. With 250 tonnes of the stuff being bound for the Agrigento region last weekend, many Sicilians have declared that they do not see why their beautiful island should become the "wastedump of Italy". On Sardinia the protests have been violent.

17 comments:

Crushed said...

Reading that article was an eye opener.

Rubbish mounds outside schools, a mafia trade in illegal waste disposal...

A remindair of seventies Britain, or the shape of things to come?

Welshcakes Limoncello said...

Ciao, Crushed. I really don't know what to make of it...

PinkAcorn said...

Maybe the fear of two words, "rats and plague" may wake them up? Yikes!

jmb said...

What a mess. We had a garbage strike here for two months this summer. We just seemed to cope and eventually it ended.
No fair to bring it to Sicily.

Leslie: said...

The only place I saw any garbage on the side of the highways or anywhere, for that matter, in Italy was as we passed by Naples. Italy is immaculate except for that city, which has a poor reputation. I'll go read that article now - can't sleep so might as well read. :(

Leslie: said...

Okay, I read the article and it's just as our guide told us - a mafia-filled dirty city. He never took us into it; we just drove right past on the highway headed to Pompei for the day and then on to the Amalfi Coast for a week. it's so sad when the rest of the country is so beautiful.

Whispering Walls said...

This situation is Italy at its worst. Just shows the impotence of coalition governments. It's outrageous that this waste should be shipped to Sardinia and Sicily or be left to poison fields anywhere. Prodi is a disaster.

Anonymous said...

No photo of the rubbish - its not as appetising as yer nice foodie pics I spose? When will I get my food parcel??

Welshcakes Limoncello said...

Hi, pink. Let's hope so! Hi, jmb. This has gone on for 4 weeks now and of course people throw out more stuff over Xmas. The Army has been brought in to help clear it but the problem is where it can go. Hi, Leslie. Yes, very sad and terrible for the residents. They are, of course, very worried about the effects on tourism. Hi, WW. Yes, Italy at irs worst and you know I say that as a true lover of this country. I can't help feeling rather sorry for Prodi! Hi, Mutley. Well, I'm too far from Naples to take a pic and I don't want to go there at the moment!

Welshcakes Limoncello said...

Mutley, tell me where to send your foodie parcel! Then it will depend whether the snails or the swallows are on shift in the post office.

James Higham said...

Aren't you glad you're on the otehr side of the water, where water is the problem?

Welshcakes Limoncello said...

Hi, James. You bet!

Dragonstar said...

"See Naples and die"
Gives new meaning to an old phrase!

Gledwood said...

I heard about that... doesn't it have something to do with the Neopolitan maff? I don't quite get the reference (except the obvious similarity) between gangsters and rubbish but...

... and why take it to SARDINIA ~ jewel in Italy's tourist crown~...???

:-@

Ardent said...

It is very sad that Naples can not handle its own waste. Sending the waste to Scicly is only a temporary solution.

The Americans are much smarter, they ship all their old computers, micro chips, screens etc. (Electrical rubbish) to China. The Chinese pull the boards apart and seperate the components.

It is a shame that societies cannot handle their own rubbish and expect other communities to cater for it. I think Scicilians need to protest.

Ellee Seymour said...

Yes, I've heard about this too, it is an important subject that Italians, like the Brits cannot ignore.

Welshcakes Limoncello said...

Well done, dragonstar. I wish I'd remembered that! Hi, Gleds. Yes, it does and search me why they have to bring it here and to Sardinia! Hello, Ardent. It is an absolute tragedy for the historic city of Naples. That is interesting about the recycling of American waste in China. Ellee, I agree; it is a problem we must all get to grips with.

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