Rome ? The Italian army has began clearing garbage, piling along the city streets of Italy’s province of Campania since December 21 when regional garbage dumps filled to overflowing, local media said on Friday.

The garbage crisis which struck Naples and the surrounding Campania region, after an incinerator was not finished on time, left over 60,000 metric tons of garbage piled up in the streets, including 5,000 tons in Naples.

On Tuesday, Prime Minister Romano Prodi announced that troops would be deployed in the province as an emergency measure to assist with the crisis.

The region has been plagued by similar incidents for 14 years. Officials say local bureaucrats and Campania’s organized crime groups, which make a profit by disposing of waste in illegal dumps, were responsible for the crisis.

The prime minister also said that three new incinerators and scores of landfill sites will be built in the nearest future. However, residents are strictly opposed to their construction due to health concerns and have held demonstrations around the proposed sites.