Non-hazardous special waste growing by 28% in seven years

Between 2014 and 2021, non-hazardous special waste produced by companies in Italy increased by 28%, exceeding 154 million tonnes, an increase driven by Basilicata where it almost doubled (+95.1%), Molise (+87% ) and from Sicily (+83%). This was revealed by an analysis by Interzero Italia, the European circular economy services group, which highlights how the only regions where there was a decline were Tuscany (-0.5%) and Valle d’Aosta (-25 .9%). In Liguria and Emilia-Romagna the increase was more limited than elsewhere (13-14%).

Trentino-Alto Adige leads the ranking of the regions with the highest quantity of non-hazardous special waste produced on average for each active company (over 50 tons per company) followed by Friuli-Venezia Giulia (48 tons/company) and Basilicata (43 ). On the contrary, in Molise (19.5 tonnes per company), Sardinia (19.3%), Campania (17.1) and Calabria (11.7) companies produce less waste than in the rest of the country. The Italian average stands at 30.2 tons of waste per company, Lombardy reaches 41.8 tons, while Veneto, Emilia-Romagna, Puglia and Piedmont are closer to the national average, placing themselves between 30 and 39 tons per organization . Tuscany stops at 27.

The vast majority of non-hazardous special waste comes from the construction and demolition sector: 50.8% in 2021 equal to 78.3 million tonnes produced, over 58% in Northern Italy and especially in Lombardy. In second place we find waste treatment and rehabilitation activities (23.6% and 39.6 million tonnes) which includes landfill. Here we see how the percentage incidence on the total waste produced is higher in Southern Italy (32%) and lower in the North (21%), a sign that the landfill is used more in the South. In third place is the metallurgical industry with over 7.3 million tonnes produced, 65% of which is in Northern Italy. This is followed by manufacturing activities with 7.1 million non-hazardous special waste.

Yet only 1 million and 730 thousand tons of non-hazardous special waste produced annually by Italian companies are transformed into fuels or other means of producing energy, just 1% of the over 154 million tons in total. Waste is transformed into energy especially in Lombardy (518 thousand tonnes), Emilia-Romagna (261 thousand) and Veneto (229 thousand). A different and less sustainable destination, however, for almost 9 million tonnes of waste which every year is sent to landfill, especially in Lombardy (over 2 million), Veneto and Tuscany (both over 1 million).

«Italy», explains Mario Bagna, CEO of Interzero Italia, «has made progress in the management of urban waste, but a lot of work remains to be done on special waste which too often ends up in landfill with a particularly negative impact on the environment. Abroad, landfills are used less and less, we must follow this virtuous example and already in Northern Italy this trend is starting to take shape.”