[EN] All roads lead to Rome - or at least to Austria's waste incineration plants?

The sweet life in Rome is not only so turbulent in the 1960 film "La Dolce Vita", directed by Federico Fellini

I've actually been to Rome several times and also experienced the city as a child. Only small impressions of me can show the life of this city with extremely important buildings, museums and the Vatican City.

The city offers ancient city walls, churches and public spaces, villas, and branched underground systems

The Sistine Chapel with the ceiling fresco by Michel Angelo is so imposing that it is best to look at it for hours. That art, religion, philosophy and / or science are in a miraculous connection can be felt, because when you come to the city you don't need to be very historically versed, you are drawn into the spell of the city and somehow you feel that something great and important things happened on almost every corner. The past merges wonderfully with the future, which is now extremely vibrant in the city.

Let's take for example the opening times at a museum, if they are often not adhered to, we would have a minor disaster. But in Rome you are relaxed and it still works almost seemingly without complications. As uncomplicated as the most diverse people. Whenever a state in the world abolishes the death penalty, the Colosseum lights up for 48 hours. Can you imagine how often that is?

Locals in Rome are very warm and open people. It is therefore appropriate to prepare and interact with these people in Italian. Even if it's just a “ciao” or “grazie”, it is received positively and the mood is much more relaxed and lighter. Adaptability in the culture and life of other people is the be-all and end-all. Even if it was very difficult to see whether they really were Romans / Italians and not Chinese and Arabs who run their businesses there. In any case, just a few days are definitely not enough for Rome…

The cleanliness made me a little sad. The streams of tourists, the buses, the crowds are not the problem, it's a nice togetherness, you can feel the flair in the city if you want to. That is why I am of the opinion that if you want to, you can keep the city clean with the options you have yourself: Don't leave rubbish lying around, take it with you and draw the attention of others to the fact that they are ruthlessly leaving their rubbish behind.

But there's a bigger problem behind this...crap. Even if you throw your rubbish properly into the nearest trash can, it won't get very far. Because rubbish piles up not only on the streets, but also in ... schools. Rome is overflowing with rubbish and has no incinerators or landfills, so every space is used to get the rubbish out of the streets. The fact that schools are of all places is questionable to what extent efforts are being put into the problem.

For a while, the Roman garbage was brought to Austria's waste incineration plants, but where the waste will find its way is questionable ... Should the household waste continue to be brought to Austria by truck? What are Rome's solutions for the future?