Gualtieri pledges that Rome will be "as clean as a village in Trentino" within a couple of years.

Rome will overcome its current rubbish emergency "within a week", the city's mayor Roberto Gualtieri said during an interview with Radio RTL on Monday.

The mayor said the crisis was exacerbated by the recent fire that destroyed the city's largest waste treatment plant, which normally treats 8,000 tons of waste a week.

Gualtieri explained that with the plant being out of action "it is clear that some of the rubbish, until alternative outlets are found, will remain on the streets."

The mayor pledged that in order for "Rome to be as clean as it deserves, like a village in Trentino, it will take a couple of years".

Gualtieri recently unveiled a contentious plan to build a massive waste-to-energy incinerator in Rome, capable of handling 600,000 tonnes of rubbish a year.

Image Via della Conce, Ostiense. Photo Massimiliano Pacilio.