CNN Student News

    FancyEnglish        Mountains of Garbage       课件首页

        January 16, 2008

(CNN Student News) -- January 16, 2008 CARL AZUZ, CNN STUDENT NEWS ANCHOR: Hi. Welcome to CNN Student News. From the CNN Center, I'm Carl Azuz. ID Me CHRISTY HENRY, CNN STUDENT NEWS: See if you can I.D. Me! I'm a European country that "steps out" into the Mediterranean Sea. Vatican City is considered one of my border countries, though it's landlocked by my capital. And that capital of mine is called Rome. We're talking about Italy, the boot-shaped European nation that's home to 58 million people. First Up: Mountains of Garbage AZUZ: Right now, Italy's army is making progress in a fight against an enemy on the streets of Naples: garbage! Taking out the trash is something a lot of you probably do for your allowance. I know I had to do it. But what do you do with those bags when there's nowhere to dump them? That's the question facing the Italian region, and the answer isn't pretty. Alessio Vinci has more on the issues surrounding this disposal debacle. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) ALESSIO VINCI, CNN REPORTER: It's ugly, it's a health hazard and it stinks. Tons and tons of garbage have piled up on the streets of Naples since late December, when local dumps ran out of room. The army has been called in to clean up parts of this city of 6 million. But here in the suburb of Pianura, residents say they haven't seen any action. Schools reopened after the Christmas holidays, but 100,000 children are staying home. "I will not take my kids here until this shame is dealt with," says Elisabetta, a nurse and mother of two. Nearby, housewife Luciana carefully recycles her trash while surrounded by a mountain of refuse. "Can you really make the difference," I ask her. "Now, it's too late," she says, "but we are all responsible, the politicians, but also people who are uncivilized and did this." The landfill here in Pianura was shut more than a decade ago. Now, there is talk of reopening it. Local residents say no. "We understand the emergency," says Salvatore, who lives just across the street. He has a tumor which he blames on exposure to toxic waste. "We can't accept garbage anymore," he says. "We are afraid and concerned about our health." Residents have set up barricades near the dump entrance and have vowed to fight any plan to reopen it. This is what happens when garbage remains uncollected for more than three weeks. But this is not a new problem. The garbage crisis has plagued this region for over 14 years. Billions have been spent in emergency funds, and nobody here knows where the money went. One theory is it went to the local mafia, known as the Camorra. Trash disposal is a lucrative business and gangs have profited from the ongoing crisis. Naples authorities say the Camorra managed to infiltrate local administrations and obtained business contracts worth hundreds of millions without competitive bidding. "The Camorra made money by buying and selling land destined to become garbage dumps," says Naples' chief prosecutor. "It also controls the transport of garbage as well as illegally disposing toxic waste." Some of the garbage collected during the past few days has been sent offshore to the islands of Sicily and Sardinia, where, over the weekend, police clashed with angry residents trying to prevent the boatloads of Naples trash from landing. The government has promised to open new dumps and to build three new incinerators like this one, which has yet to open because magistrates are concerned about operating procedures. Meanwhile, the prime minister has appointed a new "trash czar" and given him 120 days to solve the problem. Alessio Vinci, CNN, Naples. (END VIDEO CLIP)