Panel 1
Gabriella Aragona, Lucia Muto
The indicator measures the total quantity of special waste sent for recovery operations (R1-R12) as defined in Annex C of Legislative Decree 152/2006. In 2022, the amount of recovered special waste was significant, accounting for 73.3% of the total managed waste (176.6 million tons), with a continuously increasing trend (+13% in the last three years). The total quantity of recovered special waste amounts to 129.4 million tons, of which 4.2 million tons are hazardous. The region with the highest quantity of recovered special waste is Lombardy (28% of the total recovered), followed by Veneto (10.9%) and Emilia-Romagna (9.2%).
The indicator measures the total quantity of special waste sent for recovery operations (R1-R12) as defined in Annex C of Legislative Decree 152/2006.
The indicator aims to assess the effectiveness of waste management policies, particularly in promoting waste recovery and reuse, both in terms of materials and energy.
Legislative Decree 152/06, in line with the European Waste Management Strategy, establishes measures to promote waste recovery according to the priority criteria set out in Article 179. The waste hierarchy includes:
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Prevention
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Preparation for reuse
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Recycling
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Other recovery (e.g., energy recovery)
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Disposal
Additionally, Article 181, paragraph 3, mandates the adoption of measures to promote high-quality recycling. According to Article 183, paragraph 1, letter u), recycling is defined as: “any recovery operation through which waste is processed to obtain products, materials, or substances to be used for their original function or other purposes.”
Panel 2
ISPRA - Rapporto rifiuti speciali - Edition 2024
Data quality assessment
MUD Database, not accessible to the public
NaTional, regional
1997-2022
Indicator assessment
The indicator is constructed by summing the quantities of special waste recovered according to the following recovery operations: R1: Primary use as fuel or other means to produce energy; R2: Regeneration/recovery of solvents; R3: Recycling/recovery of organic substances not used as solvents (including composting operations and other biological transformations); R4: Recycling/recovery of metals and metal compounds; R5: Recycling/recovery of other inorganic substances; R6: Regeneration of acids or bases; R7: Recovery of products used to reduce pollution; R8: Recovery of products from catalysts; R9: Regeneration or other reuses of oils; R10: Treatment in terrestrial environments for agricultural or ecological benefit; R11: Use of waste resulting from any of the operations indicated from R1 to R10; R12: Exchange of waste to subject it to any of the operations indicated from R1 to R11. The national data is provided disaggregated by region.
The quantities of recovered special waste are significant, representing 73.3% of the total managed (176.6 million tons), amounting to 129.4 million tons (Table 1).
Between 1997 and 2022, the trend shows continuous growth, with the only significant decrease (-2.6%) occurring in 2012 compared to 2011 (Table 1), likely due to the economic crisis, which is consistent with the decrease in the quantities produced (-3%). Specifically, in the last decade (2013-2022), the quantities of recovered special waste increased by 49.9%.
Data
Table 1: Trend of the quantity of special waste recovered in Italy
ISPRA
a The operations considered for the calculation of recovered special waste are the following:
R1: Use principally as a fuel or other means to generate energy,
R2: Solvent reclamation/regeneration,
R3: Recycling/reclamation of organic substances not used as solvents (including composting and other biological transformations),
R4: Recycling/reclamation of metals and metal compounds,
R5: Recycling/reclamation of other inorganic materials,
R6: Regeneration of acids or bases,
R7: Recovery of components used for pollution abatement,
R8: Recovery of components from catalysts,
R9: Oil re-refining or other reuses of oil,
R10: Land treatment resulting in benefit to agriculture or ecological improvement,
R11: Use of waste obtained from any of the operations numbered R1 to R10,
R12: Exchange of waste for submission to any of the operations numbered R1 to R11.
The total quantity of special waste recovered from 2011 onwards also includes operation R12, which was not considered in previous years.
Table 2: Quantity of total special waste and hazardous special waste recovered by region
ISPRA
Figure 1: Quantity of special waste recovered
ISPRA
The total quantity of recovered special waste (operations R1 to R12) amounted to 129.4 million tonnes in 2022, of which approximately 4.2 million tonnes were hazardous. Compared to 2021 (130.2 million tonnes recovered), there is a slight decrease of 0.6% (Table 1). Among the regions with the highest quantity of recovered special waste, Lombardy stands out (28% of the total recovered), followed by Veneto (10.9%) and Emilia-Romagna (9.2%) (Table 2 and Figure 1).