Waste, household expenditure 2025 rose to EUR 340 (+3.3%)
In the South the average cost is 33% more than in the North In Catania the amount is 602 euro, three times more expensive than the 169 in Cremona
The average expenditure of Italian families for the management of urban waste is rising compared to last year: according to the Osservatorio Prezzi&Tariffe contained in Cittadinanzattiva's Dossier Rifiuti, published in advance by Il Sole 24 Ore, in 2025 a typical family (three people, living in a 100-square-metre house) spent for the Tari 340 euro on average, +3.3% compared to 329 euro in 2024. The sum includes taxes and equalisation components, the last of which, the UR3a, was introduced by Arera on 1 January 2025 to cover the so-called Social waste bonus for households with an Isee within 9,530 euro or 20,000 euro for larger households. The 25 per cent discount will be paid from 2026, but households have already contributed six euros for 2025.
Cittadinanzattiva's analysis records, also by virtue of the additional component just mentioned,an increase in expenditure in 95 provincial capitals, a stable amount compared to 2024 in one case, and, in 14 cases, a downward variation in the cost of the Tari (municipal tax), again compared to last year. The most marked upward variations are recorded in Reggio Emilia (+15.1%), Ferrara (+13.8%) and Siena (+12.9%), while the largest decreases in expenditure are in Modena (-12.3%), Cagliari (-7.6%) and Milan (-7.5%).
"The effect of the equalisation components, although they represent an additional cost for Italian households, is limited in terms of incidence on the percentage growth of expenditure in Italy's capitals and regions," explains Tiziana Toto, head of consumer policies at Cittadinanzattiva, "while what can make a difference are investments in plants that can make waste collection more efficient, and thus lower costs, or in punctual monitoring systems. In this regard, Arera - since 2020 in charge of defining the criteria for calculating costs and tariffs - for the period 2025-28 has launched the waste tariff method Mtr-3 that introduces rewards for managers who meet or exceed quality standards and penalises those who do not meet them, pushing for a punctual tariff that parameters spending on the user's actual waste production.
Numbers from North to South
Analysing absolute values, it emerges that the lowest average expenditure is recorded in Trentino-Alto Adige (EUR 224), where precisely the point-based pricing systems (Tarip) allow the tariff to be commensurate with actual waste production.
The regions where the highest expenditure is concentrated are, on the other hand, those of the Middle of the South: Apulia (445 euro,+4.4% over 2024), Campania (418 euro) and Sicily (402 euro). Widening the focus to the macro-territorial areas, the geographical divide emerges even more clearly: the South records an average expenditure ofEUR 385, a figure that is 33% higher than the EUR 290 of the North. Finally, the average cost in the regions of Central Italy in 2025 was 364 euro.
