Naples, 26 Feb.(AKI) - The long-running Naples rubbish crisis is being partially solved by priests in the southern Italian region of Campania by engaging in educational campaigns to teach the faithful about recycling and trash separation, reported Italian daily Corriere Della Sera.

Twenty-one priests of the Naples diocese have put in their churchyard, rubbish bins of different colours for the collection and proper separation of trash into bins.

In the city of Pozzuoli for example, father Fernando Carannante of the San Marco church explains to the faithful with a 30 minute long multimedia presentation, what is the "raccolta differenziata" or trash separation and which items can and cannot be recycled.

"People are very willing and interested in doing trash separation - There is an emergency today, but if we do not cooperate, it will return very soon," said Carannante to Corriere Della Sera.

The presentation is given after the religious sermon has been delivered.

Father Carannante wanted his church to become a point of collection for the trash, and according to him, the bins have already been emptied twice after the presentation during mass.

The latest refuse emergency in Naples began on 21 December 2007 when the rubbish collectors stopped gathering the garbage because there was nowhere to put it.

The problem in Naples and surrounding areas of Campania dates back at least 16 years and spans several different administrations.

Pictures of streets overflowing with garbage, street protests, and rubbish bins set alight and blocked roads have filled the pages of the Italian and foreign media in the past months.

Millions of tonnes have been dumped illegally in the sea or the countryside, including untreated and highly toxic waste.

The European Commission has threatened legal action against Italy for breaching its waste disposal norms and endangering health and the environment.