MOUNTING heaps of leaking and stinking rubbish that have become a blight on the Naples area are to be sent to Germany to avert an environmental and public health catastrophe.

Officials in Naples blame the Camorra, the local Mafia, which largely controls the waste disposal system. Donato Ceglie, the magistrate leading an investigation into the scandal, has accused local officials of ignoring the fact that for years companies linked to the Mafia have dumped rubbish, including toxic waste, in illegal tips, which are now overflowing.

Antonio Bassolino, president of the Campania region, said, however, that there were simply not enough official dumps or processing plants and that plans to build incinerators had been blocked by residents or environmental objections. He said that he had been questioned by magistrates over the rubbish, but had “committed no illegal act whatever”.

The refuse collection crisis was resolved last year when several cities in northern Italy agreed to take waste from the south. This year, however, authorities in the north have refused to help, forcing Corrado Catenacci, the newly appointed emergency commissioner for rubbish disposal in Naples, to turn to other European nations for help.

Signor Catenacci said that the Italian Government had set aside €15 million (£10 million) to resolve the Naples emergency and that 3,200 tons a day were being sent by train to Germany for processing. The first consignment left from Salerno yesterday.

Protesters blocked the Rome-to-Naples rail lines for 48 hours last week in an attempt to force the authorities to take action before Easter and warmer weather. Signor Ceglie said that the core problem remained the Camorra, which dumped rubbish in fields, ravines, rivers, farmland and the sea and forged certificates to classify toxic waste as household rubbish.

Legambiente, an environmental pressure group, said that the “eco-mafia” business brought organised crime a profit of €2.5 billion a year, but society as a whole paid an even higher price. It said that a law with penalties of up to eight years in jail for “trafficking in toxic waste” had had little effect.

Explore World News

• World Agenda

• Iraq News

• US & Americas News

• Europe News

• Middle East News

• Afghanistan News

• Asia News

• Africa News

• Ireland News

Times Recommends

• Henning Mankell: ‘If Wallander was alive, I wouldn’t be a friend of his’
• Secret society's skull and crossbones for sale
• Nigerian leader vanishes after medical treatment