Rome city council says AMA failed to meet set targets.

Rome mayor Virginia Raggi has sacked the entire board of the capital's waste management company AMA, according to Italian news agency ANSA.

The move came after the city council approved a motion noting AMA's "failure to achieve its set targets", reports ANSA.

The company has been put in the hands of its audit committee pending the appointment of a new board.

The news comes amid increasing tension at the troubled municipal rubbish company whose 2017 balance sheet was rejected by the city on 8 February.

This led to the immediate resignation of Pinuccia Montanari from her post as Rome's environment councillor with responsibility for refuse, as well as raising the prospect of a trash collection strike being called by trade unions concerned about the employment security of AMA's 8,000 workers.

The city was quick to play down the "completely unfounded alarmism" over the future of AMA, with Raggi assuring unions that the company did not face collapse.

AMA has been under significant strain since a fire destroyed a major waste processing plant on 11 December.