Hamburg, Germany To Profit From Hauling Naples' Garbage At $392 To $550 Per Ton

June 10, 2008 2:14 p.m. EST

Naples, Italy (AHN)- Naples found a temporary solution to its mounting garbage crisis after Hamburg in Germany agreed to accept its trash.

Germany agreed to haul for 11 weeks Naples' refuse to be transported in 56-car trains capable of bringing 700 tons of Italian trash consisting mainly of used water bottles, wet magazines and kitchen waste.

Martin Mineur, technical director of Hamburg's two incinerators, stressed the assistance is a stop-gap solution. "We are doing this because we were asked to provide emergency aid, but we would do it only for a few months, not years... This is not a long-term solution. Italy will have to solve Italy's problem," Mineur told the International Herald Tribune.

Hamburg, which has a population of 1.8 million residents, generates 1 million tons of trash annually. Its residents are disciplined when it comes to segregating their garbage that it could even accept Lower Saxony's refuse for a fee of $392 to $550 (250 to 350 euro) per ton.

In 2020, all European Union nations must reduce the volume of garbage it sends to landfills to 35 percent of 1995 levels. In preparation for that, the EU has imposed severe restrictions on garbage disposal in landfills.

According to a study, it would not only be Italy, but also Spain, Greece, Ireland, France and Britain would likely encounter difficulty meeting the 2020 EU deadline to cut their garbage dumping on landfills substantially.