Garbage Day Never Comes for Naples

Corrupt and inconsistent mob-controlled garbage collection in Naples, Italy, has left the city swimming in uncollected trash and with little hope of a resolution.

2 minute read

September 5, 2008, 6:00 AM PDT

By Nate Berg


"When you go up against trash here in Campania province, you are going up against a powerful, vicious mafia known as the Camorra. The Naples-based Camorra controls the import, transport and disposal of millions of tons of rubbish, an extremely lucrative business in which the group follows its own rules, ignores regulations on toxic waste and contaminates once-fertile farmland, country fields, forests and rivers."

"Beyond the ugliness of it all, evidence now suggests that the garbage is poisoning the food chain and may be causing cancer, birth defects and other health problems."

"For most of the last year, Campania suffocated under towering mountains of festering, uncollected garbage. Dumps, legal and illegal, were full to overflowing. Until cleanup crews finally made their move in July, seas of trash blocked roads and doorways and swallowed sidewalks and parks. The Camorra periodically paid Gypsy boys to set fire to portions of the waste, creating Dantesque scenes of a land ablaze, villages and towns filled with toxic smoke."

"The blighted condition of southern Italy has earned sanctions from the European Union and condemnation from international health organizations. It ignited violent protests this year and contributed to the downfall of the government of Prime Minister Romano Prodi in the spring."

"This is not a new problem. For more than 15 years, with the government spending more than $2 billion and appointing seven "trash czars," the problem hasn't gone away. It doesn't get fixed because the mafiosi , and politicians in their pocket, don't want it to be."

Thursday, September 4, 2008 in The Los Angeles Times

portrait of professional woman

I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching. Mary G., Urban Planner

I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching.

Mary G., Urban Planner

Get top-rated, practical training

Logo for Planetizen Federal Action Tracker with black and white image of U.S. Capitol with water ripple overlay.

Planetizen Federal Action Tracker

A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.

April 23, 2025 - Diana Ionescu

Close-up of "Apartment for rent" sign in red text on black background in front of blurred building

Trump Administration Could Effectively End Housing Voucher Program

Federal officials are eyeing major cuts to the Section 8 program that helps millions of low-income households pay rent.

April 21, 2025 - Housing Wire

Black and white photos of camp made up of small 'earthquake shacks' in Dolores Park in 1906 after the San Francisco earthquake.

The 120 Year Old Tiny Home Villages That Sheltered San Francisco’s Earthquake Refugees

More than a century ago, San Francisco mobilized to house thousands of residents displaced by the 1906 earthquake. Could their strategy offer a model for the present?

April 15, 2025 - Charles F. Bloszies

Los Angeles, California

Op-Ed: Looking for Efficiency? Fund Intercity Buses

Much less expensive than rail, intercity buses serve millions of Americans every year, but public subsidies are lacking.

45 minutes ago - Smart Cities Dive

A bus stop in Philadelphia, where people wait under a glass shelter for a bus as it arrives.

Philadelphia Councilmember Proposes Transit Access Fund

The plan would allocate 0.5 percent of the general fund toward mobility subsidies for low-income households.

1 hour ago - Streetsblog USA

Cyclists on an empty rural paved road with hills and sunset in background.

Texas Bill Would Ban Road Diets, Congestion Pricing

A Texas state senator wants to prevent any discussion of congestion pricing and could suspend existing bike lane and sidewalk projects.

2 hours ago - Houston Chronicle