March 18 is International Recycling Day. Waste recycling occupies a special place among the European Union's 2030 objectives. Industrial organizations and environmental associations never miss an opportunity to spread messages that encourage citizens to separate waste collection, not to exceed waste, to separate it, to follow the instructions provided by the collection company of their municipality. With 83% of recycling Italy is today in first place in Europe, despite the separate collection is not yet a levels optimal. What causes this asymmetry? And how is the garbage service carried out in Italian cities? The first answer to these questions is in the Consolidated text for the regulation of the urban waste service quality (TQRIF). A provision effective January 1 of this year on the basis of which it is possible to understand the level of the service that is provided. It is an important milestone, the result of a work that began in 2021 which rightly enters the ecological transition ” Management – he explains to us Andrea Ballabio of the REF Ricerche Laboratory - had to adapt to the obligations and minimum quality standards deriving from the regulatory scheme and had to identify the costs connected with the adaptation to the obligations of the Consolidated Law within the Economic and Financial Plan 2022-2025″.
Waste and its critical issues.
Ballabio, together with fellow researchers Francesca Bellaera, Donato Berardi, Giovanni Salpietro, Elisabetta Serra and Nicolò Valle has published one Research on “Quality of urban waste management service. What awaits us and what we already know”. The research verified the levels of service to citizens and ascertained that 77% of the population resides in territories entrusted to managers who are at the lowest level in terms of service quality. The activities have been divided into schemes I, II, III, IV which also include what the competent territorial bodies do. Scheme IV is the one that shows the best quality of service. The study, however, says that only the 5% of the population Italy enjoys these good performances. “The picture that emerges from our work indicates that the starting level of service quality is substantially low. Let's say that it is not adequate with respect to the minimum obligations established by the Consolidated Law”, adds Ballabio. In the Northern Regions, around 80% of the population in the research sample falls under Scheme I. The initiatives to increase separate waste collection, therefore, are confirmed as the most appropriate. In support there are data from 2021: North at 71%, Center at 60,4%, South and Islands at 55,7%. It is also known that especially in the Center and in the South there is a lack of dedicated infrastructures.
Strengths and weaknesses
The new Consolidated Law has opened up interesting ways that take time to implement. Furthermore, the fact that the waste service is paid for by the citizens is by no means secondary. Until the new rules go into effect, the REF researchers identified today strengths and weaknesses. "Among its strengths, the TQRIF has set the conditions for starting a process of convergence and homogenization of service quality," they write. Secondly, it allows for greater transparency for the charges relating to the improvement of the quality of the service. The available resources will have to go towards common objectives of the country. « Quality regulation is a lever to promote new investmentsi ”. There is no doubt that the improvement of public services must go through digitization and reorganization of processes. And in the waste system? "This - Ballabio explains again - will have to happen above all in the managements that fall under Schemes II-III-IV, where it is necessary to implement a system of registration of information and data verifiable by the competent Authorities".
Parcel management
In Italy, local management is extremely fragmented, so we are confident in a leap in quality, finally treating the garbage with industrial methods. Among the weaknesses identified is the difficulty of local authorities in applying the rules "in general to smaller and less structured managements in terms of skills". The State can revise the Text (it is desirable) to help Municipalities in responding to the obligations required by the TQRF. There may be higher costs for citizens to fulfill some obligations. Conclusion, the Testo Unico is in the start-up phase. Finally, it is highlighted that in 2022 the activity of managers was strongly influenced by the increase and the cost escalation energy and materials. Gaps in rates have been eroded. Operations that could be used to improve the quality of service and new investments. What awaits us for 2023, then? ” We are faced with critical issues that characterized the 2022-2023 tariff provisions, which are destined to persist also in 2023 ” is the answer that comes from REF. In short, citizens pay, quality will come.
