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Stank and the City: Residents Burning Piles of Garbage

by jordan | May 23, 2007 at 03:20 pm | 125 views | add comment

A backup of dump sites during an ongoing heat wave in Naples has led to a revolt by residents: citizens are burning their trash in the streets. Officials are now concerned that such pyres are releasing toxins into the air, exacerbating the environmental cost.

Residents of the Italian city of Naples have been torching piles of rotting rubbish in the steets amid a worsening refuse crisis.

Most of the area's landfill sites are full, meaning that rubbish collectors have not been doing their rounds.

The streets are stinking, piled with thousands of tonnes of rotting rubbish in sweltering temperatures.

President Giorgio Napolitano, who is from Naples, has pledged to help end the crisis.

The southern city of one million people is experiencing an early heatwave that has already seen temperatures touch 30C.