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Helper of the nature conservation organization »Legambiente« during a cleaning campaign in Rome in 2010: Will we be tidying up again now?
Photo: Guido Montani / dpa
A new broom sweeps clean.
Rome's newly elected mayor, Roberto Gualtieri, wants to prove this with a special cleaning campaign.
At the end of the year he wants to get the garbage problem in the Italian capital under control.
According to Gualtieri, the plan is divided into several actions:
Cleaning streets,
remove illegally disposed of rubbish,
maintain the vegetation
and clean gullies.
The city is providing 40 million euros for this.
The action focuses on numerous paths and streets that should be cleaned regularly.
More than 1000 employees of the municipal waste disposal company Ama Roma are planned for the action, said the social democrat.
There is one problem, however.
The old brooms know where the dirt is - but they can no longer get there.
In other words: only about 57 percent of the sweepers and garbage trucks are ready for use, according to Gualtieri.
The rubbish problem in Rome has existed for years.
Gualtieri's predecessor Virginia Raggi found no solution, which earned her a lot of criticism during the election campaign.
At the beginning of October the first female mayor of Rome (five-star movement) was voted out of office in the local elections.
Gualtieri had advertised to take care of the solution to the garbage issue.
Rome is often unable to collect the waste due to problems in the landfills, among other things.
The topic will be "evaluated" by Ama Roma, explained Gualtieri.
Consequences of these problems are, for example, overflowing garbage cans in the residential areas - something that is less visible in the tourist old town.
Gualtieri also announced that a round in the Capitol would coordinate the work of all those involved in the plan.
This includes communication with citizens who want to take part in the cleaning campaign.
ptz / dpa
