Humid, the harvest does not grow: risk of overcapacity of the plants

The service is missing in 675 municipalities

Italy introduced the obligation to collect the wet fraction as early as January 1, 2022, two years ahead of the rest of the European Union (which set it from January 1, 2024). Yet, the composters’ consortium notes, at the last survey in 2022 there were still 675 municipalities in which the separate collection of the wet fraction did not appear to have been activated, for a total of over 900 thousand inhabitants (around 49% in the South, 38 % in the North and 12% in the Centre).

Considering that well-organized separate waste collection from domestic users should lead to waste interceptions equal to at least 50 kg of inhabitants per year, it is necessary to consider a further 853 municipalities, in which approximately 4.7 million inhabitants reside, which do not reach this threshold and they are therefore susceptible to significant improvements.

With separate waste collection fully operational throughout Italy and considering the overall trend of the resident population, according to the estimates of the Cic Study Center, in a plausible scenario, the maximum potential for organic waste collection (wet and green) that can be achieved by Italy in medium term is 8.2 million tonnes per year, with a growth of 800 thousand tonnes, of which approximately 6.5 million tonnes per year of the humid fraction alone compared to the current 5.7 million tonnes per year.

From an industrial point of view, if collection were active in all Italian municipalities, the workforce and turnover of composting plants could reach 13 thousand workers and 2.5 billion in revenues.

New plants with the Pnrr

«We note that with stagnant collections, our plant capacity exceeds the generation of waste. If we consider that we are in the full implementation phase of the Pnrr, other plants will arise. Is it possible to optimize this path, having them born in areas that currently have a lower capacity? We ask you to be careful. The State must take care of planning and the Pngr (National Waste Management Programme) is the right tool: it must be updated. The Ministry of the Environment is aware of this, and tables will probably be set up for this, also on the basis of our requests”, continues Centemero.