Photo Gallery Trash Trouble
Residents of Naple's have had to deal with the local trash problem for more than a decade. They are so frustrated that they even protest against efforts to solve the crisis.
Asbestos and other toxic substances have been buried in the countryside around Naples and the World Health Organization says cancer and fetal defects are rising for people who live near the region's illegal waste sites.
More than 1,000 Naples residents gathered at one of the most recent protests by locals opposed to the construction of a new dump in the city.
The Italian army has sealed the site where the Chiaiano dump is being built, and requests for information by NGOs are often rejected because of a new law stipulating that trash dumps are of strategic national interest.
The discovery of asbestos at the site sparked the latest outrage and protests in November.
At the infamous waste compound in Giugliano just northwest of the city, towering mounds covered with black tarp fill fields that seem to stretch on forever. They're called eco-balls -- giant bales of compressed solid and liquid waste that have not been properly separated -- and they are being stored here until the incinerators open.
