Ecomafia: the business that poisons Campania
- Nicola Zaccariello
- Feb 23
- 3 min read
How organised crime turned toxic waste into a billion-euro enterprise.
Nicola Zaccariello, 27 novembre 2025
Over the past forty years, waste management in Campania has undergone a profound transformation: from a mere administrative issue to what can now be defined as one of the most profitable criminal enterprises in Italy. The Camorra was the first to grasp the economic potential hidden behind waste and was certainly not caught off guard when industries in the North began seeking cheaper solutions to dispose of their toxic scraps, offering disposal costs drastically lower than the legal ones, about a tenth of the official rates.
As a result, real empires began to emerge, founded upon three main pillars: weak institutions, the complicity of entrepreneurs, and the lack of inspections. And with these empires, the Ecomafia was also born: an organised system operating in the provinces of Naples and Caserta, renamed the “Land of Fires” because of the tonnes of industrial and hazardous waste transported, buried, and burnt in farmland, aquifers, and urban areas, contaminating them. It could well be said that what was once known as Campania Felix, a name that celebrated the fertility and abundance of its lands, is now the heart of an environmental catastrophe. This is evidenced by thousands of personal stories but, above all, by data from the Ministry of the Interior and ARPAC, which report hundreds of polluted sites and thousands of toxic fires every year in these areas.
However, as previously mentioned, the term Ecomafia also refers to an economic and political business. According to Legambiente’s Ecomafia Report 2024, Campania ranks first in environmental crime revenues, which in Italy exceed €13 billion per year. The Camorra operates like a true criminal holding company and, as a skilled first mover in its sector, controls the entire waste chain: from transport to disposal and landfills (both legal and sometimes fictitious), even reaching subcontracting in reclamation works.
The outcome of all this is the emergence of a model of deviant entrepreneurship, with crime acting as a service provider. Nevertheless, the environmental and health consequences are devastating. It is enough to note that ARPAC, after mapping the agricultural-territorial site of the “Land of Fires,” identified about 1,900 contaminated agricultural sites, amounting to roughly 2,000 hectares across 90 municipalities. In these municipalities, particularly those most exposed to toxic fires, the Istituto Superiore di Sanità recorded higher incidences of tumours and respiratory diseases, compromised groundwater, and a significant decline in soil fertility: milk, vegetables, and livestock products were found to be contaminated with dioxins and heavy metals. After also analysing the damage to the agricultural sector, we can therefore observe that the consequences of the Ecomafia have unfolded across three dimensions: environmental, health-related, and socio-economic.
The Ecomafia, however, is not a static phenomenon: it changes shape, adapts, and internationalises. Today it also exploits new technologies, recycling chains, and transnational waste-disposal flows. Combating it requires far more than mere criminal repression: transparency, traceability, and collective awareness are needed, because the true reclamation concerns not only the land but also the trust of those who inhabit it.
Sources
Legambiente, “Ecomafia Report 2024”. https://www.regione.puglia.it/web/ufficio-statistico//legambiente.-rapporto-ecomafia-2024
ARPAC – Agenzia Regionale per la Protezione Ambientale della Campania – Progetto “Terra dei Fuochi”.
ARPAC – Rapporto qualità dell’aria“Terra dei Fuochi”.
Istituto Superiore di Sanità – Rapporto e analisi sull’area della Terra dei Fuochi.https://www.quotidianosanita.it/campania/articolo.php?articolo_id=35143
ISPRA – Link e informazioni utili sul tema “Terra dei Fuochi”.
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