If you’ve ever visited the city of Naples, the piles of trash are hard to miss.

In stark contrast, the Navy bases appear as bastions of cleanliness.

Until now.

For the past week, the trash on the Navy Support Site at Gricignano has been piling up. In response, Capt. Floyd Hehe, commanding officer for Naval Support Activity Naples, held a town hall meeting on Tuesday to address the trash issue.

He explained that there has been a delay in trash pick up, and asked base residents to be more diligent with what they throw away.

“Our emphasis has to be on recycling. This can significantly reduce the volume of contaminated trash,” he said.

The base contracts for collection services through the city of Gricignano, and the city, in turn, contracts with various collection services.

But picking up the trash has become increasingly difficult because the Campania region is in the process of shifting to two alternate landfill sites. The single landfill site that the region had been using closed earlier this year.

One of the new sites is due to open in two weeks, but until that time, collection on the support site has been sporadic at best.

According to base officials, the public works and housing departments are working together to collect recyclable material, but only if it is separated from the rest of the trash.

The base is expecting the trash to be significantly reduced within two weeks, Hehe says.