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September 5, 2008 5:23:45 PM CDT

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Italy Calls In Shrinks for Garbage Crisis

Posted Jul 3, 08 8:50 PM CDT in Science & Health,  World 

(Newser) – Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has a “final solution" to Naples' trash problem—and it includes psychologists, Der Spiegel reports. Naples, whose overflowing landfills have led to intermittently trash-choked streets for years, will soon be invaded by an army of volunteers, including a group of psychologists trained in counseling disaster survivors. Berlusconi has also pledged to clean up the garbage.

The so-called "angels of garbage" hope to descend upon the city soon, “but you know how the concept of time in Italy has its own logic,” the group’s president said. Not only have Naples residents had to live with stinking piles of refuse for months, but protesters routinely clash with police trying to open new landfills nearby, which they oppose.

Source Der Spiegel

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Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi.   (AP Photo)
An unidentified youth, bleeding from the head, reacts during a protest in Chiaiano.   (AP Photo)
Italian Police officers in riot gear clash with protesters during a protest over a garbage dispute, in Chiaiano, near Naples.   (AP Photo)
An employee works inside the Caivano dump, near Naples.   (AP Photo/Salvatore Laporta)
Citizens of Pianura, on the outskirts of Naples, dump garbage bags in the middle of the street in a bid to block the traffic to protest against the lack of rubbish collection.   (AP Photo)
A woman pushes her stroller past a heap of garbage in Naples.   (AP Photo)
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Italy  • Silvio Berlusconi  • garbage  • Naples  • landfill  • psychologist


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