Electronic waste, collection in Italy to grow by 2.5% in 2024

Almost 360,000 tonnes of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) from households will be sent for proper recycling in Italy in 2024, an increase of 2.5% over the previous year. This is revealed in the annual report of the Coordination Centre (Cdc) Raee presented today. In detail: 358,138 tonnes (+9 thousand over 2023) managed by the Cdc's collective consortium systems, plus 964 tonnes from voluntary collection.

This is a resumption of growth in collection after the drop in the previous two years, mainly due to the good performance of consumer electronics and small household appliances waste (+7.5%), while the drop in TVs and monitors sent for recycling 1 (-10.9%) remains, linked to the TV Bonus of 2021. Geographically, the North leads the collection (+4.1%), followed by the Centre (+1.8%), while the South is slightly down (-0.2%); the volumes from the North cover 52.7% of the national collection, and push the per capita collection to 6.87 kg per inhabitant, higher than the national average of 6.07 kg per inhabitant (+2.5%). The collection rate on released for consumption will be reported in July - in 2023 it was 30.2%, in 2022 34%: the quota required by Directive 2012/29/EU is 65%.

"Although still far from the collection targets set by the EU, this result is confirmation, if ever there was a need, that the system has all the right cards and resources to counteract physiological dynamics and to continue to improve its collection performance," comments Giuliano Maddalena, president of Cdc: "The excellent results recorded by the small WEEE are in fact a demonstration of the effectiveness of the micro-collection and communication activities that have seen producers of electrical and electronic equipment and their collective systems engaged in a direct and indirect way for several years now through the disbursement of economic contributions provided for in the Programme Agreements". The efficiency premiums distributed in 2024 to the operators of the collection sites in recognition of the quantity and quality level of the collected WEEE amount to 26 million euros. With the funds to municipalities for the efficiency of the system, the total exceeds 29 million.

Specifically, the WEEE from Grouping 4, which includes consumer electronics, reached 82,471 tonnes sent for recycling, accounting for 23% of the total collected. The collection of large household appliances also grew, starting with Grouping 2 of large white goods, which recorded +4% for a total of 126,903 tonnes, accounting for 35% of the total collection, followed by Grouping 1 of refrigerators and temperature exchange equipment with fluids: +3.3% for a total of 104,407 tonnes, accounting for 29%.

Almost all territories recorded an increase, or at least stability, in the volumes collected, with variations of over 5% in five regions: Valle d'Aosta (+8.7%), Lombardy (+7.8%), Friuli Venezia Giulia (+6.3%), Veneto (+6.2%) and Basilicata (+5.9%). Exception: three regions: Molise (-17.7%), Emilia Romagna (-3.2%) and Calabria (-1.9%).