The Lazio Regional Administrative
Court (TAR) on Wednesday rejected an appeal against the city of
Rome's refuse-management plan and the project to construct a
major waste-to-energy plant to deal with the capital's trash.
The court said the petition, presented by local resident
committees, environmental associations and the councils of the
nearby towns of Albano, Ardea and Ariccia, was "groundless".
Rome has massive problems dealing with its rubbish.
Ugly, smelly piles of rubbish frequently accumulate around trash
bins on the city's streets when, for one reason or another,
trucks are late in emptying them, provoking dismay among locals
and shock among tourists.
Rome Mayor Roberto Gualtieri hopes that, together with efforts
to boost recycling, the waste-to-energy plant will solve the
problem.
"The TAR's decision is an important one and we welcome it,"
Gualtieri said.
"We were confident about the strength of our arguments and the
solidity of the administrative procedure (for the plant) that
has started and will proceed.
"Rome will finally have a waste-to-energy plant and all the
other plants needed to achieve self-sufficiency.
"A city without (refuse) plants is a city that cannot have an
ordinary waste-collection system and a city that pollutes and
emits carbon dioxide.
"Now this enables us to move forward, respecting the schedule
for the tender and then the opening of the worksites".
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