Let's meet the deadlines and Europe will become more competitive in terms of the environment, waste and energy. The Strasbourg Parliament has finally approved the new rules on the circular economy with an invitation to support what has been approved. At the center is the management of the waste cycle, considered the real continental business. For Italy the new regulation is relief and concern at the same time. Above all for the chronic delays in the definitive abandonment of landfills: the other side of the coin of a turnover of around 1000 billion euros a year. And the new rules arrive when in Campania and Sicily they come to terms with yet another emergency, the bankruptcy of municipal companies. And in Rome we don't know where to start.
In Strasbourg, however, the times were clearly established. By 2025, at least 55% of domestic and commercial municipal waste must be recycled, with a trend towards 2030, when the efficiency bar will rise to 60%, to stop at 65% in 2035. Pre-established times also for treatment of specific types of waste such as paper, plastic and glass packaging. Are Italian industries ready to respect these dates? And the Municipalities and Regions that have so much power in this sector? Based on data from recycling municipalities Italians produce 497 kilos of waste pro capital per year. About a third goes to landfill with subsequent non-polluting treatments, but separate waste is like a puzzle.
As always happens between Brussels and Strasbourg, the new rules need to "breathe". In this case, for the next 3 decades, landfills will be able to continue to receive moderately municipal waste. No more than 10% of those produced, however, in order to allow landfill managers to equip themselves in time. Realism dictates that thinking of reaching 2035 – ex lege – with the papers in order, can become an illusion, after decades of sanctions, fines and scandals. In the accompanying notes of the new EU regulation it is pointed out that Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Holland, they haven't worn any for yearsn type of waste in landfill. Their example and the economic growth of recycling are the background to the deadlines for the next few years. Nothing is impossible if individual countries make an effort and intend to grow. The operational and industrial efforts to be made are considerable, but the strategy is that of economic circularity outlined by the United Nations. It is important that Europe has now also taken charge of food waste, which must also be reduced by 30 and 50% by 2030. A way of living, producing and consuming is under discussion where millennials can make a difference.
