Jan. 7 (Bloomberg) -- The Italian government called in the army for emergency trash-collection duty in Naples for the second time in a year, ordering the military to clear piles of uncollected garbage blocking entry to the city's schools.

Mountains of trash, too much for garbage collectors to cope with, built up on the city's streets after municipal dumps overflowed Dec. 21. Health risks from the rotting trash threatened to keep city schools closed. Italian public schools reopened today after the Christmas holidays.

The military was also called in to deal with overflowing garbage in Naples and the surrounding region of Campania in May of 2007, when several towns were forced to close schools because of health hazards linked to trash buildups on the streets. Italy on May 11 passed emergency measures including new dumps operated with the help of the military.

Prime Minister Romano Prodi scheduled emergency meetings today and tomorrow after President Giorgio Napolitano, who comes from Naples, said he was ``alarmed'' by the more than 100,000 tons of garbage rotting in the city's streets.

Burning Refuse

Residents of Naples have taken to burning their own refuse, creating blazes that in some cases have had to be put out by firefighters.

The city's effort to move the garbage to a previously closed dump in the Pianura neighborhood sparked a revolt by residents, who blocked trash-collection trucks' access to the area, burned busses and attacked an Italian television reporter during a live broadcast.

``I have taken responsibility to deal with the trash problem and I will get to the bottom of it,'' Prodi told reporters yesterday. His government has received two warnings from the European Union over its handling of the garbage backup.

Naples has faced periodic trash emergencies over the past 14 years. Political corruption, slow bureaucracy, organized crime and opposition from residents who don't want dumps near their homes have made trash collection a constant headache for the region.

A quarter of Italy's waste, 26 million tons, was unlawfully dumped in 2006, mostly by organized crime groups such as Naples' Camorra, environmental group Legambiente estimates.

Public discontent is mounting in Naples. Effigies of local officials, including Mayor Rosa Iervolino and Campania President Antonio Bassolino, have been hung from trees and lampposts across the city, the country's third-largest with over 2 million inhabitants.

To contact the reporter on this story: Flavia Krause-Jackson in Rome at fjackson@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: January 7, 2008 11:34 EST