Naples residents burn piles of uncollected garbage; nowhere to dump it

• published: 21 Jul 2015
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SHOTLIST Naples 1. Wide shot of Gulf of Naples and Mount Vesuvius 2. Long shot Naples harbour 3. Girls swimming in Naples gulf 4. Wide shot of people sunbathing on pier Afragola, 15 kilometres from Naples 5. Wide shot of street seller walking through garbage 6. Long shot of cars slaloming through garbage 7. Mother with baby carriage walking, garbage on the side of the street 8. Wide shot Afragola's residents sitting at bar table, few metres away from garbage piles 9. SOUNDBITE: (Italian) Mario Mosca, Afragola resident: "This emergency is at its highest point, because there's garbage everywhere, we can't even walk on the streets, because of the garbage and its smell. So it is an unbearable situation and the only thing they (the politicians) care about its sending us tax bills." 10. Tilt up from garbage to cars 11. SOUNDBITE (Italian) Luigi De Francesco, Afragola resident: "Last time they set the garbage on fire was last night, they come here almost every night. I always call the fire department, because I'm forced to breathe dioxin coming from the fires." 12. Various of fire fighters extinguishing garbage on fire 13. SOUNDBITE (Italian) No name available, fire fighter from Naples fire department: "Unfortunately for us this kind of action has become a daily routine. Every single (fire brigade) unit has a daily average of 20-30 calls. We lost count of the number." 14. Wide shot of garbage on the streets 15. Tilt up from close-up of recycling bin for plastic and plastic full of generic garbage 16. SOUNDBITE (Italian) Pasquale Losa, President of A.S.I.A., Naples garbage collection company: "In Naples we produce 1400 tones of garbage a day. Even being able to recycle 35 per cent of the garbage, we still have one thousand daily tonnes of garbage to dispose of. This means that we need new industrial plants to complete the waste disposal cycle and separate the garbage. We need new dumping grounds and modern incinerators." 17. Various of burnt garbage STORYLINE: Residents of Naples have begun burning heaps of garbage that have piled up for more than a week, adding potentially toxic smoke to the area's stinky air. Mounds of trash have reached as high as 3 metres (10 feet) in some places and blocked entire streets. Collectors had stopped hauling it away because they have nowhere to take it. The southern Campania region - home to the luxurious Amalfi Coast but also the slums of Naples - has been plagued by garbage crises in recent years. "This emergency is at its highest point," said Mario Mosca, a resident. "There's garbage everywhere, we can't even walk on the streets, because of the garbage and its smell." Dumps fill up, and local communities block efforts to build new ones or create temporary storage sites. In 2004, the garbage crisis prompted weeks of protests. This time, fire brigades said they extinguished more than 150 fires in and around Naples overnight, believed set by residents trying to dispose of the trash. The burning of chemicals have added to the already putrid smell of garbage decomposing in the sun. "Last time they set the garbage on fire was last night," said another resident, Luigi De Francesco. "They come here almost every night. I always call the fire department, because I'm forced to breathe dioxin coming from the fires." The government recently approved construction of more dumps in the area, but there have been delays in getting them operational. Pasquale Losa, president of A.S.I.A., the Naples garbage collection company, said the sheer volume of rubbish means they needed new industrial plants to complete the waste disposal cycle and separate the garbage. infighting about what to do. Premier Romano Prodi refused to accept the resignation on Monday, officials said. You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/2fb950ecc684ab1bef17b8f535772d62 Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork