Italy risks big fines over Naples trash crisis – EU

The European Commission warned Italy yesterday that it risked big fines if it fails to implement a new waste management plan to clean up an eight-million-tonne mountain of trash around Naples.

A preliminary report from European Union inspectors who visited the Campania region this week found that authorities have yet to launch measures demanded by Europe’s top court in March, said EU Environment Commissioner Janez Potocnik.

“In the absence of an effective waste management plan for Campania, the danger to human health and damage to the environment to which the court made explicit reference in its ruling, will continue,” Mr Potocnik said.

“This would oblige the Commission to eventually return to the court, with the likely outcome being the imposition of fines,” he said, stressing that implementing a new waste management plan was a “matter of urgency.”

Naples residents have reported a rise in the numbers of rats, pigeons and seagulls in the garbage-infested streets as experts warned that the unresolved crisis was likely to result in a rise in infectious gastrointestinal diseases.

Mr Potocnik warned that it would take “several years” to set up the infrastructure required to get rid of 7,200 tonnes of rubbish accumulating every day in Campania and prevent future garbage crises.

The construction of a new incinerator signals some progress but “significant gaps” remain in the system, including the lack of separate collection of waste in Naples, the commissioner said.

The new waste management plan must comply with EU environmental law and give priority to waste reduction, re-use and recycling, implement separate collection in the whole region and give Campania composting capacity, he said.

Authorities need to establish measures to safely dispose of “almost eight million tonnes” of bundled waste strewn around several storage sites in Campania, Mr Potocnik added.

The European Court of Justice in March found Italy in breach of EU legislation for its failure to clean up the crisis.

Should the Commission decide to refer the matter back to Europe’s top court for a second time, and should the judges rule against Italy, the country would face a fine running into millions of euros.

The fines are calculated as a percentage of GDP, with day-by-day penalties added to a lump sum.