Descrizione 1
Andrea Gagna
EPRTR (European Pollutant Release and Transfer Register) is the integrated register established by the EU pursuant to Regulation (EC) No. 166/2006, aimed at making available to the public information regarding environmental pressures from industrial facilities falling within the scope of the regulation.
This indicator represents the quantities of hazardous and non-hazardous waste generated by industrial facilities that have reported such data to the national PRTR register.
Regarding "industry" data on hazardous waste, in 2020, the PRTR groups that transferred the largest amounts of hazardous waste across borders were the metal industry, the chemical industry, and energy-related activities. The total amount of hazardous waste exported by the industrial sector in 2020 accounted for 1.7% of all hazardous waste transferred by “industry”.
Facilities categorized under “Waste and wastewater management” also exported hazardous waste in 2020: about 24.65% of the hazardous waste declared by this group was sent abroad.
The indicator represents, for the years observed, the total quantity of hazardous and non-hazardous waste transferred outside the premises of the facilities reporting to the national PRTR. Similarly to the PRTR indicators for air and water emissions, the observed sample consists of the largest industrial facilities in the country.
Although waste transfer values can be acquired through measurements, calculations, or estimates (as per the reference legislation), most of the declared data is collected via actual measurements of waste weight.
Qualitative and quantitative information on waste transfers is collected through PRTR declarations according to criteria defined by the relevant legislation (Art. 5 of Regulation EC No. 166/2006, DPR 157/2011, and Art. 30 of Legislative Decree 46/2014).
Facilities are required to report waste transfer data if, during the reference year, they transferred over 2 tonnes of hazardous waste or over 2,000 tonnes of non-hazardous waste. Total waste is further categorized into waste sent for recovery or disposal, either domestically or abroad. In the case of hazardous waste exports, the operator must also provide information on the final treatment plant abroad.
The purpose is to provide qualitative and quantitative information on the annual quantities of hazardous and non-hazardous waste transferred off-site by PRTR facilities, as reported to the national PRTR register.
Regulation (EC) No. 166/2006 and DPR No. 157/2011 require the register to be updated annually and to include companies previously subject to the INES declaration. The law also mandates public access to the register and sharing of information at the European level via the EPRTR.
Descrizione 2
The PRTR data collection system is based on facility self-reporting and validation by competent authorities. The inclusion of waste treatment plants within the scope of the PRTR may lead to potential double-counting of waste quantities. Nevertheless, including waste data enriches the environmental dataset provided in the "Industry" chapter of the Environmental Data Yearbook.
Qualificazione dati
https://industry.eea.europa.eu/
National
2007-2020
Qualificazione indicatore
Aggregation and disaggregation by geographic parameters and PRTR codes.
The following considerations refer to aggregated data net of the contribution from waste and wastewater management activities, in order to avoid double counting. In quantitative terms, in 2020, the off-site transfer of waste by companies in the “industry” sector involved a total of 11.5 million tonnes (Mt) of special waste (Table 1), including 8.8 Mt of non-hazardous waste (a 27% decrease compared to 2019) and 2.7 Mt of hazardous waste (a 25% decrease compared to 2019). Considering the impact of the pandemic on production activities in 2020, the indicator status is considered to be “medium.”
A total of 6.1 Mt of non-hazardous waste (66.9% of the non-hazardous total) and 1.3 Mt of hazardous waste (46.3% of the hazardous total) were sent for recovery, while 2.7 Mt of non-hazardous waste and 1.4 Mt of hazardous waste were disposed of. In 2020, the PRTR activity group contributing the most to the off-site transfer of non-hazardous waste was the metal industry (4.1 Mt), followed by the mineral products industry (1.6 Mt) and energy activities (1.1 Mt). As for hazardous waste, the PRTR activity groups transferring the largest amounts were the metal industry (1.2 Mt) and the chemical industry (0.8 Mt).
The following considerations refer to data aggregated excluding the contribution of waste and wastewater management activities, in order to avoid double counting. The comparison between 2020 and 2007 data on off-site waste transfers by the industrial sector shows a decrease in the quantity of non-hazardous waste (-18.7%) and an increase in hazardous waste (+37.2%) (Table 1). The trend in the historical data series justifies the classification of the waste transfer trend from the industrial sector as “stable.”
Regarding final treatment (disposal or recovery), over the same period, the quantity of non-hazardous waste sent for disposal decreased by 32.6%, and the quantity sent for recovery decreased by 10.3%. Meanwhile, the quantity of hazardous waste sent for recovery by industry increased by 108.1% between 2007 and 2020, and the quantity sent for disposal increased by 3.5%.
Dati
Figure 1: Off-Site Waste Transferred , Percentage Distribution by PRTR Group in 2020
| ISPRA, National PRTR Register |
Figure 2: Off-site Waste Transfer, Percentage Distribution by Final Treatment
ISPRA, National PRTR Register
Table 1: Total Waste Transferred to Third Parties in 2020, by PRTR Establishments
ISPRA, National PRTR Register
Table 2: Hazardous Waste Exported Abroad in 2020 by PRTR Facilities, "Industry" Group
ISPRA, National PRTR Register
Table 3: Hazardous Waste Exported Abroad in 2020 by PRTR Facilities, "Waste and Wastewater Management" Group
ISPRA, National PRTR Register
The data are obtained by aggregating those declared by individual facilities subject to this obligation. In fact, each PRTR facility is required to report the transfer of hazardous and non-hazardous waste if, for the reference year, the declared quantities exceed the reporting thresholds of 2 tonnes for hazardous waste and 2,000 tonnes for non-hazardous waste.
The data declared by each facility (when exceeding the corresponding thresholds) are subject to quality assessment by the competent authorities. Any blank cells in the table indicate that no national data are available for the year in question, as the relevant data were not reported by facilities to the PRTR register.
To reduce potential double counting of waste quantities transferred off-site, Table 1 includes only the quantities declared by PRTR facilities whose main activities do not fall under the group "Waste and Wastewater Management".
In 2020, 66.9% of non-hazardous waste generated by the "industry" group was sent for recovery treatment, while 53.7% of hazardous waste transferred by the "industry" group was sent for disposal (Figure 2).
Considering the "industry" data for hazardous waste, in 2020 the PRTR activity groups that proportionally transferred the largest quantities of hazardous waste across borders were the metal industry, the chemical industry, and the "Miscellaneous" group (Figure 1).
The total quantity of hazardous waste exported (47,086.59 tonnes, of which 9,017.88 tonnes for disposal and 38,068.70 tonnes for recovery) accounted for 1.7% of the total hazardous waste from the "industry" group (Table 2).
Facilities classified under the "Waste and Wastewater Management" group also exported hazardous waste in 2020, totaling 768,113.9 tonnes, of which 439,764.20 tonnes were sent for disposal and 328,352.73 tonnes for recovery (Table 3).