The mayor of Naples, Rosa Russo Iervolino, has announced that a site has been chosen for the city's first termovalorizzatore or thermocycling garbage incinerator. It will be built in Agnano, a northern suburb where ex-pats of a NATO base were previously located. The choice of a site for a plant that will recycle a good portion of the area's organic refuse and convert it into electricity came only a day after an announcement by Guido Bertolaso, the government's undersecretary for the Campania trash emergency, that following extensive site testing, work will be going ahead on a new major landfill in the Chiaiano neigbourhood of Naples.The Chiaiano site, which would absorb up to 1000 tons of garbage a day, should be operational within three months, he said.

The two announcements indicate that Italy's new government, the Campania region and the Naples municipality are finally working together to make a concerted effort to get the area's long-running trash emergency under control. Maybe.

Mayor Jervolino said the city would be looking for inspiration to Vienna, where a similar plant has operated for years without arousing significant opposition, in proximity of a residential neighbourhood, a hospital and the university.