Waste management cannot be considered a variant of the ecological and energy transition. There division between North and Central South in the approach and plant engineering on disposal, it must be overcome in a reasonable time. Especially when public resources have to be invested. By 2035, the need for urban waste plants in Italy is 5,2 million tonnes. More than 2 million are for the organic fraction and 2,8 million for the non-recyclable fraction. Just considering the two types of waste, the North-Central-South subdivision is more evident. Campania, Lazio and Sicily, which have been struggling for years about how to manage their activities, clash with the first type. Veneto and Lazio with the second. These are, in summary, the considerations of a group of analysts from Cassa Depositi e Prestiti who ended up in the study " Waste Management and territorial differences: what prospects for Italy ”.
For the waste sector, 2 billion in the PNRR
On the territorial disparity (coincidentally on the day when the government approves the bill on differentiated autonomy) there are delays and underestimations that cost Italians dearly. Millions of euros weigh on the state budget to be paid to Europe for a series of infractions. Italy is periodically fined for not complying with EU regulations and for never closing landfills permanently. The point of greatest interest that emerges from the CDP study lies in the need to bridging the territorial gap on plants. The occasion of the 2 billion of funds foreseen in the PNRR must allow for a leap in quality capable of attracting private resources as well. Where ? “On projects of proven feasibility and excluded from the allocation of PNRR funds due to depletion of the limit” the analysts reply. It is a way (not the only one) to move towards a modern and effective management of the waste cycle. The main levers are waste-to-energy, conceived as a transition technology and the digitization of industrial processes. Together, one and the other, will be able to lead to a transversal cultural change. From this point of view, it is singular that in Lazio - a critical region, in a few days to vote - and in the capital of Italy there are disputes over whether or not to to build a 600 million euro waste-to-energy plant. And in the controversy there are still those who don't distinguish an incinerator from a waste-to-energy plant.
Switch to a circular manufacturing model
Recycling has grown in recent years with good results for special waste. For urban ones, on the other hand, there are greater management difficulties, with a recycling rate close to 50%. Yet by 2035 it should reach 65%. Among the structural causes are the failure to complete local governance, the weakness in differentiated waste collection and the supply of plants, denied in the past even by a Minister of the Environment. In the regions of Center South 19% of municipal waste ends up in landfills or in heavy exports to non-neighboring Regions. Thus, 90% of the "extra costs associated with the export of waste outside the Region weigh on the Central-Southern Regions". To reduce these discrepancies, the CDP analysis indicates four fronts: attracting private investments on the infrastructures to be built; focus on waste-to-energy plants as a technology for move from a linear to a circular production model; promote related digital solutions that ensure waste traceability; build policies that encourage greater awareness, starting with the Public Administration. The ultimate goal is to disseminate behavioral models that take into account the limited resources and that do not provide for waste or "disposable". Low-cost energy can be obtained from waste for the benefit of citizens and businesses. The game is all open.
