Italy is the European country that recycles the most waste according to European Commission data from December 2021. The country manages to recycle 79% of the waste it collects. From 2010 to 2018, the recycling rate in Italy increased by 8.7%.
Recycling not only helps to reduce waste production and consumption of raw materials, but also leads to significant savings in energy consumption. It thus contributes to the reduction of climate-changing emissions.
In the field of recycling, the country is not only ahead of other European countries, but also ahead of its target set for 2025. How was this achieved?
Achieving sustainability
Italy recycles 56.4 million tons of waste annually, mostly traditional recyclables such as paper, plastic, glass, metal and textiles, reaching 26 million tons.
Cities collect recyclable waste door-to-door, requiring residents to separate their waste or collect it from designated large bins. These bins are labeled for the collection of glass, plastic, organic waste and paper. Bins for collecting old clothes, oil, batteries and medicines may also be seen.
More and more schemes are being introduced to encourage everyone in Italy to recycle. As part of the government’s aim to promote a recycling culture, hotels, restaurants, bars and shops have introduced a ‘deposit’ scheme. Part of the payment for bottled drinks is a deposit, which is refunded when the bottles are returned.
Stores encourage the use of reusable bags. When they sell disposable bags, they must be compostable, according to European standards. Italians, who love designer products, like to see the logo on the paper bags received from fashion stores and tend to keep them for later use. One can buy composting bags in supermarkets.
Italy has passed legislation designed to combat food waste across the country, making it easier to recover and donate excess food to charity. This can be for human consumption, animal consumption or composting.
In 2017, supermarket chain Carrefour Italia partnered with Italian pasta and sauce maker Barilla to promote anti-waste pasta recipes using leftover vegetables. They raise awareness with in-store exhibitions and competitions.
In some parts of the country, there are companies that collect the leftover oil from about 100,000 restaurants. It is delivered to collection points and then to a refinery operated by Eni, the Italian oil and gas company, where it is turned into fuel. Recycling this oil reduces the amount of edible crops needed to produce biofuels and reduces the volume of waste clogging sewers.
Recycling industry
In Italy, the entire recycling chain is worth a total of more than 70 billion euros in turnover, 14.2 billion in added value and more than 213,000 employees, according to the Italian online magazine Il Fatto Alimentare. It is the country with the largest recycling capacity.
Materials obtained from recycling are used in the production of paper, glass, plastic and even in the furniture sector. This is a working example of a circular economy.
The main objectives of the circular economy are to close the chain by ensuring that all waste produced is reused, reduce energy consumption and eradicate other forms of polluting effects that occur in the supply chain.
A study done in Italy found that businesses that invested in the green economy performed better than those that did not. It also showed that the same green businesses would be better able to provide more jobs in the future and report lower losses caused by the pandemic (8% reduction in turnover compared to companies that did not invest in a green economy with an average loss of 14%).
