Italy Dragged Into Court Over Waste in the Streets

The commission is taking Italy to the European Court of Justice over the waste crisis that has plagued Naples and the Campania region, resulting in riots and public protests last winter.

Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas said, “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. Italy needs to give priority to putting in place effective waste management plans in Campania and Lazio as well as the collection and treatment infrastructure needed to implement them properly."

The court case over Campania concerns the waste crisis that has affected Naples and the Campania region for at least a year. During the spring of 2007 garbage was left uncollected for weeks, forcing the closure of schools on health grounds and leading frustrated residents to set fire to rubbish bags piled up in the streets.

The uncollected waste and open fires posed serious health and environmental risks through the spread of disease and pollution of air, water and land. The commission consequently opened an infringement procedure against Italy last June for violating the EU's Waste Framework Directive.

The law requires the EU member states to ensure that waste is recovered or disposed of without endangering human health, to prohibit the abandonment or uncontrolled disposal of waste, and to establish an integrated and adequate network of disposal installations.

Garbage piles on a street in Naples, Italy. January 2008. (Photo credit unknown)

This situation in Campania was repeated in December 2007 and the commission reacted by sending a final warning on February 1, 2008, with a one-month deadline for Italy to reply given the urgency of the crisis. The commission conducted a fact-finding mission to Naples and the surrounding area in February and received Italy's response in early March.

While the immediate crisis has eased recently, with rubbish being cleared from the streets following the government's appointment of a new waste emergency commissioner for the region, Dimas says the European Commission views these measures as inadequate to address Campania's waste problems in the long term and prevent a repeat of the unacceptable events seen over the past year.

A new waste management plan for the region was adopted in late December 2007 but the commission is aware that the previous plan, adopted more than 10 years ago, was never properly implemented.

Campania is today still far from establishing an effective management system that addresses the collection, treatment and disposal of waste.

Furthermore, said Dimas, the Italian authorities have been unable 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 is also sending Italy a first written warning for failing to comply in the Lazio region with an European Court of Justice judgement that found it in breach of its obligations to adopt regional waste management plans. In this second case the commission has the power to ask the Court to impose fines if Italy does not comply.

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