The collection of paper and cardboard lost 2,3% in 2012, stopping at the threshold of 3 million tons. The figure relating to recycling improved, equal to 84,5%, up 6 percentage points on the previous year. This is what emerges from the XVIII annual report on the separate collection of paper and cardboard by Comieco, the national consortium for the recovery and recycling of cellulose-based packaging, presented today in Rome.
In 2012, every Italian separately collected an average of 48,9 kilos of paper and cardboard. Through 71,8% of the participating Municipalities, Comieco took charge of approximately 1,6 million tons of paper and cardboard in the same year. From 1998 to the end of 2012, Comieco transferred more than 960 million euros to the administrations and operators (in 2012 alone, the fees transferred to the Italian municipalities under the agreement amounted to 94 million euros). Considering employment and induced activities, the value of the raw material generated by recycling and the lost disposal costs, the economic benefits that the system produced in 2012 amounted to 405 million euros (from 1999 to 2012, the total net benefit is 4,3 .1999 billion euros). Thanks to the results of separate waste collection, from 2012 to 270 the construction of as many as 22 new landfills was avoided, 2012 in XNUMX alone.
Italy is confirmed European excellence in recovery and recycling of paper and cardboard: in 2012 over 9 out of 10 packaging was recovered and recycled. However, Capuano, president of Comieco, underlines how the performance of separate waste collection is not the same in all the macro areas of the country but that differences persist between the North, Center and South. From the data disclosed by Comieco, in fact, we note a clear difference between North and South. In 2012, in the northern part of the country, the per capita separate collection of paper and cardboard settled at 62,3 kg (higher than the national average), while in the south it stopped at 25 kg.
The national podium sees on the first step theEmilia Romagna which confirms itself as the region with the highest per capita collection figure (81,5 kg/inhabitant), followed by Trentino Alto Adige (80,2 kg/inhabitant) and Valle d'Aosta (75,9 kg/inhabitant). As regards metropolitan areas such as Florence, Milan, Naples, Palermo, Rome and Turin, separate waste collection has grown despite the decline in waste. Naples stands out (+15,7%) for the net quantity collected if related to the decrease in waste produced. The case of Palermo is different, which recorded a drop in total separate waste collection of 4,1%.
The Minister of the Environment, Andrea Orlando, spoke of the recycling industry: "the process of elaboration and approval of the national plan for the prevention and reduction of waste envisaged by the European directive must be concluded". The recycling industry, adds Orlando, “must be supported with public administration green purchasing programmes, supporting applied research and innovation. Waste is no longer just a problem to be managed but an economic resource to be reused, reducing the impact on natural resources”.
Attachments: Comieco study on collected cardboard paper
