Lights and shadows on the Italian system
If we wanted to make a summary and general assessment of the situation of urban waste collection in Italy in 2018, we could say that of the 30 million tons collected, 58.1%, equal to 17.5 million tons, represent the collection differentiated, with a 2.6% growth compared to 2017.
There is no doubt that Italy virtuously continues the process of making municipal waste management more efficient on the national territory , pursuing the objectives imposed by the European community.
But the country system thrives on lights and shadows that are clearly expressed in the 2018 urban waste report presented by Ispra , in which there are marked differences both in the collection, in the selection and in the disposal of waste.
The first interesting data show the% of collection, in 2018, divided by macro areas:
Where in the first three places we find regions such as Veneto with 73.7% collected, Trentino Alto Adige with 72.5% and Lombardy with 70.7%. On the opposite side of the statistics we find Sicily with 29.5%, Molise with 38.4% and Calabria with 45.2%.
The differences in the percentages, albeit abnormal, suggest , however, substantial improvements in the last regions compared to 2017, with growth between 6 and 8% in just one year.
As far as the product fractions are concerned, we find a collection, expressed in millions of tons, divided as follows:
In light of these numbers, a major problem can be identified regarding the geographical location of the waste disposal and processing plants of separate collection, as most of them are located in the north, thus creating a migration of the waste to be treated from the center. – south to the north. This leads to a worsening in environmental and economic terms for citizens , caused by the large amount of road trains that move every day.
To understand this phenomenon we have to go into detail on the distribution of the plants on the Italian territory divided by activity.
Plants for the organic fraction :
Authorized landfills :
Incinerators :
In addition to these daily migrations of waste from central-southern to northern Italy, there is a quantity of waste that goes abroad and which represents 1.5% of the collected amount, equal to 465,000 tons.
The main countries that accept Italian waste are:
However, the problem of waste must be seen from a broader point of view concerning the national energy transition , which must be achieved through the circularity of what has been collected and selected and towards renewable forms of energy.
The deficient plant situation does not only concern the waste sector but also embraces the other renewable energy sectors, where a share of wind, solar, hydroelectric and biomass plants are subject to dispute.
Politics must give a strong signal and show the way, involving local administrations, towards a national need for circularity and clean energy, bypassing unnecessary parochialism and local opposition, the result, many times, of technical incompetence and a short-sighted vision of the future or political favors.
Automatic translation. We apologize for any inaccuracies. Original article in Italian.
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