Illegal Dumping

The Municipal Hygiene Regulation for the Municipality of Venice allows for the abandonment of garbage strictly between the hours of 6am and 8am, Monday through Saturday. During that time frame residents and businesses are permitted to dispose of their trash either directly outside of their door or in a place that will cause the smallest inconvienience to pedestrian and cargo traffic. Despite these regulations the city of Venice continues to experience a significant amount of illegal dumping. While most of the illegal dumping takes place and is dealt with overnight, the exclusion of Sunday as a collection day allows for some garbage to be left outside for an additional day. This illegal dumping causes an unpleasant odor to fill the streets of Venice and is, to say the least, not very aesthetically pleasing. A recent study was done by a team of students from the Worcester Polytechnic Institute on the rate of illegal dumping observed particularly on the island of San Lio. Over the span of a week it was found that the total waste generated on the island was 191,700 liters, of which 19,970 was dumped illegally. Meaning that almost ten-percent of the waste was illegally disposed of. It was estimated that if the 10-percent fihure holds across the entire Historical Center, the volume of waste dumped illegally over a year would fill up Piazalle San Marco to a depth of over four meters. This is a significant issue that must be addressed in order to preserve the overall cleanliness of Venice.

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