Electronic waste: the collection rate in Italia is set to rise to 32.5% by 2025
The European target of 65 per cent of products placed on the market is still a long way off
Key points
Electronic waste: collection rates are rising in Italia. In 2025, waste treatment companies operating in Italia handled a total of 588,689 tonnes of WEEE, an increase of 9 per cent compared with 2024. This increase has contributed to a 3 percentage point rise in the country’s collection rate, which now stands at 32.5 per cent, still some way off the European target of 65 per cent.
This is what emerges from the WEEE (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment) Management Report published by the WEEE Coordination Centre, based on the data provided by treatment facilities.
The collection rate is calculated by comparing the total volumes of WEEE, from both domestic and business sources, managed during the reference period with the average volume of electrical and electronic equipment placed on the market over the previous three years.
WEEE from the business sector up 18.2%
In 2025, household WEEE totalled 387,370 tonnes, whilst commercial WEEE stood at 201,319 tonnes: both figures represent increases compared with 2024, of 4.5% and 18.2% respectively. In detail, the collection of commercial temperature-control equipment rose by 23 per cent, whilst that of large (+4.8 per cent) and small domestic appliances rose by 11.2 per cent, whilst the collection of screen-based appliances has fallen (-7.8% for domestic and -7.7% for professional).
85% of the harvest has been recycled
In terms of the total volume collected, the recycling rate – which measures the proportion of materials resulting from treatment that are sent for material recovery or reuse – stands at an average of over 85 per cent, whilst the recovery rate – which also includes materials sent for energy recovery – exceeds 90 per cent on average.
