Waste piles up in Sicily as collectors strike

FROTH AND BUBBLE

Japanese take a broom to the Eiffel Tower
Donning green vests and yellow gloves, a team of Japanese took the cleanliness of Paris into their own hands this weekend to sweep up litter around the Eiffel Tower, the world's most visited landmark. Joined by passers-by of several nationalities, the Green Bird squad -- part of a volunteer movement in Japanese and European cities -- was aiming to encourage residents and visitors alike to keep the French capital tidy. "I don't think that Paris is particularly dirty, but it's a good way to set an example and make our cities clean," said Masataka Tanigawa, 25, a Japanese expatriate who joined Saturday's effort under a cloud-free sky. Like their counterparts in Berlin, Geneva or London, Greenbird volunteers in Paris descend on a tourist site every month for an hour-long sweep-up. Past targets have included the Champs-Elysee and Place de le Concorde. "I like doing this," said El Shafey Ayman, 36, an Egyptian who came with his Japanese friend. "Cleaning up my city makes me feel like a better person. If everyone did this, it would be very clean." City councillor Francois Dagnaud joined the effort. "The Japanese have emerged from urban civilisations; they're a bit more advanced than us," he said. "The cleanest cities are the ones that people don't litter."

by Staff Writers
Palermo, Italy (AFP) May 31, 2009
Sicily's city of Palermo was buried in a mountain of waste on Sunday as garbage collectors pressed on with a strike over fears that their struggling employer will not pay them.

Piles of trash as high as two metres (6 feet 5 inches) lined apartment buildings and church walls across the city, as firefighters received reports of some 200 rubbish fires sparked by hot temperatures on the island.

Garbagemen have been on strike or have done limited trash pick-ups as they refuse to work overtime for fear of not getting paid by their employer, the trash collection company Amia, which is 150 million euros in the hole.

The city council dropped Sunday a plan to raise the waste management tax by 30 percent to help Amia after a stormy municipal meeting.

Mayor Diego Cammarata said the strike was "seriously irresponsible" as the city was more and more "invaded by trash in an intolerable and indecent way."

The collectors' union decided to remain on strike until they received guarantees on the future of their employer.

They also demanded better work equipment, saying that they were not working in safe conditions.

The strike recalls the rubbish problems that have hit Naples, where the mafia has been blamed for a garbage crisis in a city that has been on a "waste state of emergency" for 14 years.

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