It is getting to the point where the European nations cannot even handle the garbage they generate. And I mean that literally….
The European Commission is currently undertaking legal action against 14 member states for failing to enforce landfill regulations, with large fines expected to follow. Similar waste disposal crises have led to strikes and riots in Greece and Bulgaria this year, while Britain was recently warned that landfill capacity will be exceeded by 2016.
Naples’ rubbish crisis may worsen tomorrow with the planned closure of the only remaining working landfill in the area. The southern Italian city has been turned into a stinking dump this week as rubbish collectors have gone on strike complaining that they have nowhere to take it. Angry residents have burnt refuse piled up in the streets. Italy’s President Giorgio Napolitano, in a letter published this week in the financial daily Il Sole 24 Ore, appealed for a quick solution, warning that further delay would “precipitate an ecological and health disaster, with serious economic and labour repercussions.”
Collectors have stopped hauling the rubish away because they have nowhere to take it. The government has approved construction of more dumps but there have been delays in getting them working because of opposition from local communities.
The Blog called the EU referendum has some nice pictures of the mess. They blame the EU rules for the problem. And I can well believe that EU is a contributing factor. But not all the blame cannot be put on the EU doorstep (this from France 24)….
The chronic problem is the result of a lack of space in existing dumps, some of which have been closed by court injunctions after their operations were taken over by organised crime, dubbed the “ecomafia.”
A May 10 decree by the centre-left government creating four new dumps — fiercely opposed by people living nearby — will not come into effect for several weeks.