Governing through fragmentation: Waste marketization and contamination rights in semi-peripheral EU regions

Imagine a world where the rules meant to protect our environment are so numerous and spread across so many different levels of government that they accidentally create holes for criminals to slip through. This is the paradox at the heart of a new investigation into how waste is managed across Europe. For decades, the European Union has built a massive legal framework designed to stop pollution, punish illegal dumping, and force countries to recycle. Yet, despite these strict laws and heavy fines, a dark trade in hazardous waste continues to thrive, particularly in the southern and eastern parts of the continent. The question researchers are asking is not why the laws are missing, but why having so many laws, spread across national, regional, and local governments, might actually be making the problem worse. The answer lies in a concept called "fragmentation," where authority is so divided that no single person or group feels responsible for fixing the mess, allowing criminal networks to treat the environment as a place to dump toxic waste for profit.

A researcher set out to understand this strange failure by looking closely at three specific regions: Italy, Greece, and Bulgaria. These areas, often described as sitting on the edge of Europe's economic core, share a common history of struggling to manage their trash while trying to meet European standards. The researcher did not just look at statistics; they traced the history of waste crises in these places over thirty years, from 1994 to 2024. They examined court rulings, government reports, and the stories of local communities fighting for their health. What they found was a pattern where the very structure of governance—intended to bring decision-making closer to citizens—had instead created a maze of confusion. In this maze, criminal groups could exploit the gaps between different levels of government to move toxic waste from wealthy countries to poorer ones, where it was buried or burned with little oversight.

The core of the problem is how waste has been turned into a commodity, but in a twisted way. Usually, we think of making money by extracting resources like oil or minerals. In this illegal trade, money is made by the ability to destroy. Criminal networks realized that they could charge companies in wealthy nations to take their toxic waste away, and then dump it cheaply in places like the countryside of Italy or rural Bulgaria. The value of this crime comes from the "contamination rights"—the ability to degrade the land and water without paying the full price. Because the rules are split between the European Union, national governments, and local towns, the criminals can play one against the other. They might claim they are following local rules while ignoring national ones, or they might hide behind the fact that the European Union is too far away to enforce its own laws effectively.

In Italy, specifically in the region of Campania, this dynamic played out in what became known as the "Triangle of Death." Here, organized crime groups took over the waste business, turning a public service into a criminal enterprise. They buried millions of tons of toxic industrial waste, including heavy metals and radioactive materials, under the soil and in the countryside. The situation was so severe that cancer rates in the area soared, and thousands of deaths were linked to the contamination. The researcher found that even when the European Union fined Italy hundreds of millions of euros, the crisis did not stop. This was because the government had created a special emergency system that bypassed normal democratic rules, giving one person the power to make decisions without local input. While this was meant to solve the problem quickly, it actually made it worse by removing accountability. The local communities tried to fight back, blocking landfills and protesting, but they faced a system where no single authority was truly in charge, making it impossible to force a real solution.

Greece faced a similar struggle, but with a different twist. When the country joined the European Union, it inherited a set of environmental laws but lacked the infrastructure to follow them. Over time, the government reorganized its regions, creating new layers of administration that were supposed to manage waste. Instead, these changes broke the chain of command. The regional governments had the power to make plans but no money or staff to enforce them. The local towns had to collect the trash but had no say in where it was dumped. This created a vacuum where illegal dumping flourished. Criminal groups took advantage of the confusion, falsifying documents to move waste around the country and even across borders. Despite receiving billions of euros in European funding to build recycling facilities, the country continued to dump most of its waste in landfills, many of which were illegal. The money was spent, but the system remained broken because the different parts of the government could not work together.

Bulgaria offers a third example, where the timing of joining the European Union created a perfect storm. When the country joined in 2007, it was required to close hundreds of unsafe landfills. However, the local governments did not have the money or the skills to build new facilities. This led to a situation where the country became a destination for waste from wealthier nations. Criminal networks from Italy and other countries found it much cheaper to ship their toxic waste to Bulgaria, where they could dump it for a fraction of the cost. The researcher found that this trade was so profitable that it attracted powerful political figures and oligarchs who protected the illegal operations. Even when the European Union threatened to cut off funding or impose fines, the local corruption was so deep that the waste kept flowing. The result was that Bulgaria became a "sacrifice zone," a place where the rest of Europe could dump its problems, protected by the very fragmentation of the system meant to prevent it.

What makes this research so important is that it challenges a common assumption. We often think that if we have more laws and more layers of government, we will have better protection. This study shows the opposite can be true. When authority is spread too thin, it creates a space where responsibility disappears. No one feels accountable because everyone can blame someone else. The criminal networks do not need to break the law in a dramatic way; they just need to find the cracks in the system where the rules do not touch. The researcher argues that the solution is not to add more laws or more layers of government, but to integrate the existing ones so that someone is clearly in charge and can be held responsible.

The story of these three countries is also a story of the people living there. Despite the overwhelming power of criminal networks and a confusing government system, local communities did not give up. In Italy, residents formed networks to investigate the health impacts of the waste, turning themselves into experts on toxins and cancer. In Greece, people blocked roads and occupied landfills to stop new dumps from opening. In Bulgaria, activists used the courts to stop the construction of incinerators that were backed by the European Union. These movements achieved some victories, closing specific landfills and forcing some investigations. However, the researcher found that these wins were often temporary. Because the system itself was broken, the same problems kept coming back in different forms. The criminal networks adapted, finding new routes and new ways to hide.

Ultimately, this paper suggests that the fight against illegal waste is not just about catching bad guys or writing better laws. It is about fixing the way we organize our societies. If we want to protect our environment, we need to make sure that the people in charge can actually do their jobs. We need a system where authority and responsibility go hand in hand, so that when something goes wrong, we know who to hold accountable. Until then, the cracks in the system will remain, and the trade in contamination will continue to turn our environment into a commodity for profit, leaving the most vulnerable communities to pay the price. The researcher concludes that without a coordinated approach that bridges the gaps between local, national, and European levels, the cycle of waste crises will likely continue, no matter how many fines are issued or how many new laws are passed.