Waste, Italy first in Europe with 85.6% recycling rate

With 137 million tonnes of recycled waste, corresponding to 85.6% of the total waste treated (between urban and special including inert waste), Italy leads the European ranking of countries that recycle the most, with the EU average standing at 40.8%. Italy also leads for the rate of use of secondary raw materials: 20.8% of the materials used by industry in 2023 will come from waste recycling, almost double the European average (11.8%), against 13.9% in Germany, 17.6% in France, and 8.5% in Spain.

These are the numbers of the report 'Recycling in Italy 2024', presented during the third edition of the National Conference of the Recycling Industry promoted by the Foundation for Sustainable Development in collaboration with Conai and Pianeta2030 of Corriere della Sera, under the patronage of the Ministry for the Environment, Ispra and the National System for Environmental Protection.

"In order to increase circularity and recycling rates, it is essential to ensure stability, adequate volumes of demand and remunerative prices for secondary raw materials generated by recycling," commented Foundation for Sustainable Development President Edo Ronchi. "This is why the new proposal announced by Commissioner Von der Leyen for a new European law on the circular economy, which will help create market demand for secondary materials, is of strategic importance. But in addition to European measures, national initiatives are also needed to increase domestic demand for materials from recycling and effectively counter unfair competition to industrial recycling activities".

"With the start of the new course of the European Commission headed by Von der Leyen," emphasised Environment Minister Gilberto Pichetto Fratin in his video message to the conference, "there is a new opportunity to focus on for the development of a circular economy with the goal of a decarbonised economy.

One of the most significant challenges is the one concerning the textile sector: although the quantity of textile waste collected has increased in recent years (in 2022 collection will amount to about 160,000 tonnes, an increase of about 4% compared to 2021), there is still a considerable amount of urban textile waste, more than 1 million tonnes (about 7 times the quantity of separate collection recorded in 2022) that ends up in undifferentiated waste collection. The separate collection obligation in force in Italy from 2022 is still poorly implemented, also due to a lack of recycling plants, new developments are expected for recycling in the sector at European level. In 2020, the European Union generated about 6.9 million tonnes of textile waste, with an average of about 16 kg per capita: only 4.4 kg per capita were collected separately for reuse and recycling. Today, only 1% of textiles are recycled in a closed loop and it is estimated that between 150 and 250 new plants would be needed by 2030 to achieve circularity in Europe.