New horizon for Rome’s trash problems

Mayor Gualtieri believes that the issues can be resolved in the next 3 to 6 months

Rome’s ongoing saga with failing and mismanaged waste collection services is looking set for a new chapter – this time hopefully one that resolves it all with a happy end. On 28 December, mayor Roberto Gualtieri announced at a press conference that the cleaning plan will reach the remaining district municipalities within the next three to six months. He also admitted in passing that his initial commitment to have the city clean by Christmas has not gone up quite as expected but that there have been external circumstances involved.

This, at least, is what Romans can look forward to in the short term

The mayor explained that there are still municipal districts, namely V, IX, XII, XIII and XV, that still remain in critical condition. He also emphasized that he had inherited an enormous issue to deal with, adding to which there were unforeseen events, such as the shutdown of a collection plant in Frosinone, which happened exactly when the clean-up operation was about to begin.

Another point of contention and criticality has been the so-called non-domestic users, referring to commercial establishments, such as shops, restaurants and small businesses that would habitually dump their trash in the household bins. To tackle this problem, a process that envisaged a rationalization and an increase in the frequency of waste truck passages and the simultaneous replacement of the bins was started, however it takes time to implement.

Likewise, 25% of the so-called 'micro-dumps', illegal but often necessitated landfills, have already been cleared – that, however, also means that 3 out 4 of such sites still remain. The deadline that the mayor stated for the clearing of the dumps was February 2022.

New vehicles and new people have been and will be added to Ama, the waste collection company’s workforce. Among the new employees are people who will act as neighbourhood supervisors for certain types of waste accumulation and will also be ready to impose fines. The municipal company has also tackled absenteeism through negotiations with the trade unions and revised work schedules.