The triangle of death and the waste management crisis are primarily a result of government failure to control illegal waste dumping. The government had attempted to mandate recycling and waste management programs, but were unable to, causing the expansion of opportunities for illegal activities, which caused further barriers to solve the waste crisis.
Pollutants such as dioxins are found in the area, particularly around Acerra, as well as illegal waste disposal, even in the business district of Montefibre. As early as 1987, a decree of the Ministry of Environment marked Acerra "at high risk of environmental crisis".
High levels of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) were detected both in the soil and in the inhabitants of the region. It is hypothesized that industrial slurry originating from Porto Marghera (industrial docklands near Venice) was disguised as compost and spread on fields in the Acerra countryside by the Casalesi clan, often with help from the landowners.
In one case, a company had its assets seized during a 2006 investigation in which it was alleged that the company had illegally disposed of waste from industries in the regions of Veneto and Tuscany in the territories of Bacoli, Giugliano and Qualiano. Approximately one million tonnes of toxic waste are said to have been disposed of, earning €27 million. The company was already the subject of a 2003 investigation. In another case, a tank full of toxic substances was found buried in an illegal dump, in Marigliano.
The illegal burning of waste, for example to recover copper from wiring, is known to release dioxins into the atmosphere. Such fires are easily hidden among legitimate incineration resulting from the more general waste disposal problem, and the illegal burning of hazardous materials was particularly noted during 2007 and 2008. The presence of fires in the north area of Naples led author Roberto Saviano to use Terra dei fuochi ("Land of pyres") as a chapter title in his book Gomorrah.
In 2000, a Parliamentary Commission inquiry about waste discovered some 800,000 tonnes of mud in Pianura landfill, coming from ACNA of Cengio in Naples, and the Italian Procura della Repubblica found (through telephone wiretappings) some irregularities in the waste disposal into the landfill of Villaricca, managed by FIBA (a company of the Impregilo group).