Rome is expected to receive some 30 million pilgrims for the year 2000 celebrations. From an environmental point of view, this will cause a considerable increase in waste production, beyond the capacity of current waste management infrastructure.
The waste management facilities operational at the moment will not be able to cope with the quantity of waste which is expected to be produced. Consequently, the State of Emergency will be valid until the 31st of December 2000, in order to enable a rapid response and pass the legal measures needed to resolve this problem.