Sweden burns Mafia garbage

The Neapolitan Mafia's mountain of garbage has to be taken care of, and Sweden will do the job.  

  • The Högdalsverket recycling energy plant in Stockholm's south - you can see the telltale Globen Arena profile clearly to the right of the chimney. Photo: Wikimedia commons/Holger Ellgaard
  • This year, energy company Fortum will burn 3000 tons of Italian household garbage in southern Stockholm.

  • From waste to energy ... Fortum, which owns Högdalsverket, is a forerunner in the environmentally benign combined heat and power generation. Photo: Kimmo Häkkinen
  • "Allegations of business with the Mafia are grossly insinuating," said Ulf Wikström, information manager at Fortum Värme in a press release. The waste disposal in Naples has been out of control for years, the reason being it is controlled by the Mafia, which gathers waste and lets it turn into mountains around the city. Sweden to the rescue. Parts of the garbage will now be moved north to be burnt in Sweden for the first time. According to Swedish Television, the company Fortum has made a deal with an Italian company to take care of thousands of tons of processed household waste this year.
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  • “We are talking about 3000 tons that will be converted into electricity and heat. Fortum's counterpart is the publicly traded energy company a2a with an annual turnover of around EUR 6 billion ($7.8 billion) and operations in several European countries, " Fortum said in a statement. The garbage will be shipped through the Kiel channel in Germany to Nynäshamn, and later to its final destination: Högdalsverket in southern Stockholm.
    “This is a win-win situation for everyone. Today 150 million tons of waste is deposited every year, put on garbage dumps throughout Europe. If we can take a fraction of that and turn it into valuable energy, then that’s good both for the climate and the environment,” said Ulf Wikström, Information Officer at Fortum Värme to Swedish Television. Fortum gets paid for burning garbage, but Wikström makes it clear that it’s not about mafia money. “The assertion that it’s about deals with the mafia are heavily insinuating. Fortum would never do business with any mafia.”

  • Högdalsverket in Stockholm is owned by the group Fortum Corporation headquartered in Finland and ranked high in the Nordic Climate Index.