Waste production has shown a significant increase in the last years (observing period 1997-2006). This is a sign that production and consumption are still mainly driven by the concept of use and throw away. In particular, analysis of the correlation between waste generation, GDP and household consumption shows waste generation growing more rapidly than economic indicators. High growth of waste generation suggests the need for prevention and minimization policies. In particular, the environmental impacts of waste not only come from its management but mainly from the non-sustainable use of resources.

In 2006 total waste generation reached approximately 167 million tonnes (Mt), an increase of about 91 % from 1997 (Figure 1).

After many years of high growth, stabilisation at 32.5 Mt of municipal waste generation was noted between 2006 and 2007 (Rapporto Rifiuti 2008:http://www.apat.gov.it/site/itIT/APAT/Pubblicazioni/Rapporto_rifiuti/Documento/rapporto_rfi08.html; http://annuario.apat.it/capitoli/Ver_6/en/Waste%20cycle.pdf - Paragraph ‘Generation’, pg 294). Generation of hazardous and non-hazardous waste has also continued to grow, from 83 Mt in 2000 to 134.7 Mt in 2006. Of this, 125.5 Mt was non-hazardous waste – including 52 Mt construction and demolition (C&D) – and 9.2 Mt was hazardous waste.

Between 2006 and 2007, landfilling of municipal waste fell by 2.4 %; in the same period there was an increase of 34.2 % in the amount of waste managed in anaerobic digestion plants, 7.6 % by mechanical biological treatment (MBT), 4.8% by composting and 0.1% by incineration. The fraction of municipal waste incinerated remained stable at 12.1 % in 2006 and 12.2 % in 2007. The 44 operating plants, in 2007, equipped for energy recovery produced approximately 3 million MWh of electrical and 1.1 million MWh of thermal energy. (Rapporto Rifiuti 2008:http://www.apat.gov.it/site/itIT/APAT/Pubblicazioni/Rapporto_rifiuti/Documento/rapporto_rfi08.html; http://annuario.apat.it/capitoli/Ver_6/en/Waste%20cycle.pdf - Paragraph ‘Management’, pg 301).

A total of more than 117 Mt of hazardous and non hazardous waste from economic activities – called special waste – was managed in 2006, 91.6 % of which was non-hazardous and 8.4 % hazardous waste.

Figure 3 shows that approximately 57.7 Mt or 49.3 % were managed by material recovery operations, The most common disposal operation remains landfill, with approximately 19 Mt or 16.3 % of total special waste. A total of 13.4 Mt is destined for storage, 2 % of the total pending disposal and 9.4 %  pending recovery (Rapporto Rifiuti 2008: http://www.apat.gov.it/site/itIT/APAT/Pubblicazioni/Rapporto_rifiuti/Documento/rapporto_rfi08.html; http://annuario.apat.it/capitoli/Ver_6/en/Waste%20cycle.pdf - Paragraph ‘Management’, pg 301).

Regarding packaging waste, in 2007 about 12.4 Mt were put on the market in Italy, a 2 % increase from 2006, corresponding to about 200 000 tonnes of packaging material.

Table 1: Packaging put on the market (2000 – 2007)

Source: ISPRA

Table 2: Recovery and recycling of packaging waste (2003-2007)

Source: ISPRA

As shown in table 2, in 2007 8.4 Mt of packaging waste were recovered, an increase of 4.6% from 2006, equivalent to almost 370 000 t, confirming the positive trend of the previous years.

Waste generation is known to be strictly correlated with socio-economic indicators such as GDP and household consumption. However, between 2004 and 2006, the increase in municipal waste generation was practically double that of socio-economic indicators  4.3 % against 2.4 % for GDP and 2 % for household consumption. In 2007, for the first time in several years, municipal waste generation grew more slowly than GDP and household consumption  0.1 % against 1.5 % and 1.3 % respectively) (Rapporto Rifiuti 2008: http://www.apat.gov.it/site/itIT/APAT/Pubblicazioni/Rapporto_rifiuti/Docu-mento/rapporto_rfi08.html; http://annuario.apat.it/capitoli/Ver_6/en/Waste%20cycle.pdf - Paragraph ‘Generation’, pg 295).

Municipal waste generation per capita fell to 546 kg in 2007, down from 550 kg in 2006. (http://annuario.apat.it/capitoli/Ver_6/en/Waste%20cycle.pdf - Paragraph ‘Generation’, pg 296).

One of the pressures generated by waste is GHG emissions. Total GHG emissions in Italy increased by 35.58 Mt of carbon dioxide equivalent (Mt CO2-eq.) between 1990 and 2007. During this period, emissions from agriculture fell by 3.35 Mt CO2-eq. from the use of solvents by 0.35 Mt CO2-eq. and by 0.56 Mt CO2-eq. from industrial procedures), while, emissions from energy sectors increased by 40.48 Mt CO2-eq. and from waste by 0.63 Mt CO2-eq. In 2007 wastes were the cause of 3.1 % of total GHG emissions.

The new Framework Directive 2008/98/EC of the European Parliament and the Council on waste is currently under implementation into Italy’s legislative framework.

As stated under Article 4 of the Waste Framework Directive, waste management must be carried out in accordance with the following priorities:

·      quantity and quality prevention of waste;

·      preparation for re-use of products that have become waste;

·      recycling;

·      other types of recovery, for example, energy recovery;

·      disposal.

Separate collection provides a positive response to the pressures on the environment caused by waste. In 2007, 27.5 % of total municipal waste was separately collected. Although this was more than in 2006, 25.8 %, it is still below the 35 % target provided by Article 205 of Legislative Decree 152/2006 of 31 December 2006, and the 40 % target of 31 December 2007 introduced by Law no. 296 of 27 December 2006.

As regards packaging waste, Decree 152/06 set higher targets for the recycling of certain packaging materials with respect to the Packaging Directive. As shown in Table 3, higher targets were set because Italy is already well advanced in recovery of certain packaging waste fractions.

Table  3. Comparison between recycling targets set in EU and Italian legislation

According to Article 5 (1) of the Landfill Directive 1999/31/EC, Italy has developed a national strategy for the reduction of biodegradable waste going to landfills. This strategy identifies the waste types to be considered as biowaste and defines specific targets for reduction. The target for year 2008 was achieved at the national level.

Authors:

Cristina Frizza, Andrea M. Lanz (ISPRA)

References

ISPRA, 2008, Rapporto rifiuti 2008

ISPRA, Key Topics –Italian Environmental Data Yearbook 2008. Roma, 2009. http://annuario.apat.it/

ISPRA, Italian Greenhouse Gas Inventory 1990-2008 - National Inventory Report 2010

http://scp.eionet.europa.eu/facts/factsheets_waste/2009_edition/Italy