It’s over when we say it’s over

CNN reports that Berlusconi is about to announce the end of the Neapolitan trash crisis. Kind of like when Bush declared victory in Iraq.

Breaking news

Oh no, the trash crisis in Naples isn’t over.

Italian Trash Crisis Goes to EU Court

In my humble opinion, any article that includes the phrase “a picture is worth a thousand words” should include a picture. This one by the Cristian Science Monitor does not (oddly, they went for audio instead), but we’ll let them slide just this once since they found the only interesting angle on today’s Naples trash crisis update. It appears Italy will have to defend itself at the European Court of Justice for bad trash management…

“But what the EU is tackling through the courts, artists here have been taking on with their paintbrushes and movie cameras. From trash-themed satires of Van Gogh’s “Starry Night” to music played with abandoned mattresses, these a artists are finding creative and ironic ways to express the malaise of living amid the rotting piles of waste. After years of largely unfulfilled promises from politicians, the grass-roots movement is also trying to use artwork to put forward practical solutions, such as increasing the region’s dismal recycling rates.”

Photo via Rain News

Blue Music and Garbage Sound

I met a lot of amazing people last weekend in Oslo. One of the most inspiring was Nasra Ali Omar, a Somali-Norwegian who grew up in Somalia, then Kenya then Northern Norway. Nasra was helping out with the trash art/found object show, but her real passion is music. And environmentally friendly music at that. She and her collaborators are committed to releasing their music in electronic files only, never burned onto CDs that end up in the trash.

Still more amazing is the technology she’s developing to debut in Norway later this year. Using motion sensors designed for medical examinations and blue tooth technology, Nasra manipulates a series of electric pads stuck to her fingers and arms that allow her to affect the intensity of her sound while playing the drums, play back pre-recorded beats and lay a track while performing , adding layer upon layer to her sound. She performs with a dancer, also fitted with the sensors so that the dancer and her movements can control the music as well. Others have tried similar programming in the past, but always with lots of wires or having to wear an entire electric jacket. With the small sensors and wireless blue tooth, Nasra and co. are breaking new ground. A bit off the subject of garbage, but trashtastic nonetheless!

In other music news, and to reroot ourselves in the subject of trash, Neopolitan musicians have made lemonade out of the recent trash crisis in Naples. “Garbage Sound” is music made using instruments crafted from things found in the trash.

(That’s Nasra above, striking a silly pose during the opening of Recycling the Looking Glass)

Weekly Compactor

This week in trash news:

• Switzerland will take–and burn–180,000 tons of trash from ailing Naples;
• Catadores contribute to better recycling in Brazil;
• Rauschenberg sues a gallery for selling his trash as art; and
• Reese Witherspoon confesses to garbage neurosis.

Photo of a Rauschenberg via warhol.org

Weekly Compactor

This week in trash news:

• The Italian army begins cleanup in Naples while non-trahsies around the world catch on to the ongoing trash crisis;
• Organizers in the Philippines call for a green counter-celebration to clean up after a trash-generating religious feast; and
• New York City will soon require big stores to provide plastic bag recycling.

Trash War

Around the world, trash news is focused on Naples this week. The crisis, which is nothing new, has taken an ugly, ugly turn.

• The environment is sure to suffer.
• The police and military have been called in to help, leading to clashes with protesters.
• And, of course, the whole mess is tied to the mob.

Photos via the Telegraph Web site and credited to Getty/AFP.

Weekly Compactor

This week in trash news:

• The trash crisis in Naples heats up;
• Utah trash collectors double as neighborhood watch;
• A homeless man in Prague lands a city job for finding a baby in the trash; and
• The Trafalgar Square Christmas tree gets recycled.

Photo via the AP

Weekly Compactor

This week in trash news:

• The Washington Post’s first person singular piece this week features a man who scoops trash out of the Patomic;
• Young garbage collectors risk life and limb in Baghdad;
• A clash between the Teamsters and Waste Management has San Francisco looking a lot like Naples;
• A new study from Greenpeace shows 6.5 million tons of trash floating in the Mediterranean;
• A couple in India discover a discarded grandmother at the local garbage dump;
• A city in California proposes restrictions on curbside trash scavenging;
• The BigBelly solar trash bin gets a little press in the UK; and
• Regional officials in Canada visit Europe to learn more about trash.

Photo by Walter P. Calahan via the Washington Post

Weekly Compactor

This week in trash news:

• The U.S. government warns Americans of trash-related health risks in Naples;
• Italians in nearby Mercato San Severino try to clean up their act;
• A San Fran resident and a local columnist hash out the best ways to dispose of organic waste;
• Bears prefer garbage to bait; and
• Brits rescue a pony from a rubbish dump.

Photo via the USDA Forest Service

Weekly Compactor

This week in trash news:

• As the Italitan trash crisis continues, Neopolitans force the city to reopen an old dump;
• Garbage remains a multi-million dollar cash import in Virginia;
• The Supreme Court reaffirms that trash is NOT private (I mentioned this earlier, but it bears repeating);
• A dispute between Belize City local officials and their trash hauler leads to smelliness;
• Plastic generated by tourists plagues a river in India, despite the best efforts of the government of Norway to step in and solve the problem Viking style;
• Cynthia Rowley envisions designer garbage bags and for some reason CNN thinks this is news (yeah, I know, I’m a hypocrite for reposting but I’ll bog anything that allows me to diversify the photos around here….I’m sick of trash piles).

Weekly Compactor

This week in trash news:

• Southern Italy reaches trash crises (photo via the AP);
• Chicago adds big bellies to the beach;
• Baltimore residents love them too;
• Beijing sets aside 30% of its trash to make energy; and
• Garbage pile saves a young Czech.