Abstract
Separate collection of municipal solid waste (MSW) is mandatory in Italy, and an increasingly higher standard of efficiency is applied; in fact, the target value set by regulation is 65%. In the last 20 years, separate collection efficiency increased from 9.4% with 80% national MSW landfilled, and only one region was over 25% separate collection to 58.1% with 22% national MSW landfilled and 12 of 20 regions over 55% separate collection. However, significant differences are present in the three Italian macro regions (North, Center and South). This paper analyzes the composition of waste carried in most Italian regions to evaluate the effect of separate collection on the composition of mixed municipal solid waste (unsorted). Moreover, a regression analysis on the same data allows to assess this latter as a function of separate collection efficiency.
Highlights
Separate collection of municipal solid waste (MSW) is mandatory in Italy and an increasingly higher standard of efficiency is applied; the target value set by regulation is 65% [1]
It should be considered that the waste fractions that are more actively sorted by customers tend to reduce their presence in mixed waste and separate collection efficiency increases
The analysis of available data allowed an assessment of the effect of increasingly higher levels of separate collection efficiency on Italian mixed municipal waste composition
Summary
In the last 20 years, separate collection efficiency increased from 9.4% with only one region over 25% to 58.1%, whereas 12 of 20 regions are over 55% separate collection [2]. MSW landfilling decreased from 80% to 22%. Significant differences are present in the three Italian macro-regions (North, Center, and South). The generation of MSW has shown a slight increase during recent years. According to ISPRA [2], 30,2·106 Mg of MSW was produced in 2018 corresponding to about 500 kg·inhabitant-1·year-1.There are significant differences across regions. In Northern Italy, MSW production has been 517 kg·inhabitant-1·year-1 with the separate collection of 67.7%, while Central Italy and Southern Italy recorded 548 kg·inhabitant-1·year-1 with 54.1% separate collection and 449
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