Italy taken to court over ‘inadequate’ waste plans

Measures taken to address the waste crisis in the Naples region are “inadequate” and are putting citizens’ health at risk, the European Commission claims.

Italy is being taken to the European Court of Justice for failing to put in place waste collection and treatment plans in the Campania region as required under the EU’s Waste Framework Directive, the Commission announced on Tuesday (6 May).

“The piles of uncollected rubbish in the streets of Campania graphically illustrate the threat to the environment and human health that results when waste management is inadequate,” said EU Environment Minister Stavros Dimas.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has also reported growing health problems in the region due to improper handling and incineration of waste. 

Waste crises are not new to Campania, where waste disposal is a lucrative business controlled largely by the ‘Camorra’ mafia. In summer 2007, severe garbage collection problems in the region made international headlines and prompted the Commission to open an infringement procedure (EURACTIV 27/06/07).

The crisis has eased recently since the appointment of a new ‘Waste Emergency Commissioner’ for the region in December 2007, the Commission said. However, it believes the measures introduced “are inadequate to address Campania’s waste problems in the long term and prevent a repeat of the unacceptable events seen over the past year.”

Italian authorities have failed to give “a clear timetable for the completion and entry into operation of the sorting plants, landfills, incinerators and other infrastructure needed to resolve the region’s waste problems,” the Commission added.

The waste crisis in Naples “is not a crisis coming out of the blue,” Dimas insisted at a Parliament hearing in January. “It is the culmination of a more than 14-year-old process of insufficient implementation of European waste legislation for which Italy has repeatedly been condemned by the European Court of Justice.”

In a related case, the European Commission sent a warning to the Lazio region on Tuesady (6 May) for failing to adopt regional waste management plans. Fines could be slapped on the region if it does not comply, the Commission warned.

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