Descrizione 1
Angelo Santini, Fabio Tatti
In 2022, the total national municipal waste (MW) production in Italy amounted to approximately 29.1 million tons, marking a 1.8% decrease (543,000 tons) compared to 2021. In general terms, the 2022 data appears to reflect a long-term declining trend.
The indicator measures the total amount of municipal waste generated in Italy, broken down at the regional level.
To measure the total and per capita quantity of municipal waste generated.
Assessment of the implementation and effectiveness of legislative and technical measures related to municipal waste, particularly concerning the provisions outlined in Part IV of Legislative Decree No. 152/2006 and related regulations, including the National Waste Prevention Program, Regional Waste Prevention Programs, the National Waste Management Program, and Regional Waste Management Plans.
Descrizione 2
ISPRA - Rapporto Rifiuti Urbani (various editions)
Qualificazione dati
Data on municipal waste generation at the national level, as well as disaggregated by macro-geographical area, region, province, and municipality, are freely available and downloadable from the website www.catasto-rifiuti.isprambiente.it.
National, regional
1995-2022
Qualificazione indicatore
On May 26, 2016, the Ministry of Environment issued a specific decree providing guidelines for calculating the percentage of separate waste collection. This decree introduced changes to the accounting methods for municipal waste production and separate collection, adopting a methodological approach different from that previously used by ISPRA (up to 2015).
Notably, the decree includes certain waste streams from removal activities conducted in residential buildings in the collection data. Previously, ISPRA excluded these flows from municipal waste counts as they were classified as special waste under existing regulations. Additionally, the decree mandates that street-sweeping waste sent for recovery and the entire volume of multi-material collection (including non-recyclable fractions) be included in separate collection figures. Under the previous methodology, these were counted as undifferentiated waste, contributing to total MW production but not to separate collection.
The data are sourced from ISPRA analyses based on information reported by ARPA/APPA (regional and provincial environmental agencies), regional and provincial authorities, local waste observatories, and the annual database of the Environmental Declaration Form (MUD).
At the municipal level, data collection and processing are carried out unless data are available only in aggregated form (e.g., by territorial district, mountain community, consortium, or municipal union). For municipalities lacking direct data sources, municipal waste generation estimates follow a standardized methodology, which involves: grouping municipalities within each province by population size (<5,000; 5,000-14,999; 15,000-29,999; 30,000-49,999; 50,000-149,999; ≥150,000 inhabitants) and determining the average per capita waste production for each group; estimating total waste production for municipalities without direct data by multiplying the per capita production average of the corresponding group by the municipality’s resident population; estimating the amount of undifferentiated municipal waste as the difference between total MW production and separate collection figures for the given municipality.
For separate collection data, in cases where direct information is unavailable, figures from the previous year for the same municipality are used.
Between 2021 and 2022, municipal waste production in Italy decreased by 1.8%. The fluctuations in waste production over time can be linked to various factors, including regulatory changes, public health crises, and socio-economic events such as the 2020 pandemic and the 2022 international crisis. As a result, the indicator’s overall status is classified as moderate.
In 2022, total municipal waste production in Italy declined by 543,000 tons compared to 2021, reaching approximately 29.1 million tons.
Looking at the long-term trend, from 2007 to 2010, annual waste production remained consistently above 32 million tons. Following a sharp decline in 2011-2012 (coinciding with a contraction in GDP and household consumption), waste generation remained below 30 million tons until 2015.
Subsequently, with the exception of 2017, production exceeded 30.1 million tons before beginning a downward trend in 2019, which became more pronounced in 2020. After an increase in 2021, waste production fell again in 2022. Overall, the trend can be considered relatively stable.
Dati
Table 1: Total and per capita municipal waste generation
ISPRA
The population used for the per capita calculation refers to the resident population as of December 31 of each year.
Figure 1: Per capita municipal waste generation
ISPRA elaboration based on ISPRA and Istat data
Figure 2: Per capita municipal waste generation by region
ISPRA elaboration based on ISPRA and Istat data
In 2022, the national generation of municipal waste (MW) decreased across all Italian regions, with the sole exception of Valle d’Aosta, where a slight increase was recorded. Among the northern regions, the largest reductions were observed in Trentino-Alto Adige (-3.7%), Lombardy (-3.2%), and Veneto (-2.5%). In the central regions, significant declines occurred in Marche (-2.7%) and Tuscany (-2.1%), while in the South, notable decreases were reported in Molise (-3.2%), Calabria and Sardinia (both -2.5%), and Apulia (-1.9%) (Table 1).
With regard to per capita waste generation, since 2012 the national average has consistently remained below 500 kilograms per inhabitant per year, with the exception of the years 2012, 2018, 2019, and 2021. By contrast, during the period 2004–2011, significantly higher values were recorded, ranging between approximately 530 and 550 kilograms per capita (Figure 1).
As in previous years, the highest per capita waste generation was recorded in Emilia-Romagna, with 633 kilograms per inhabitant per year—despite a 7-kilogram decrease compared to 2021. This was followed by Valle d’Aosta, which increased by 14 kilograms to reach 616 kilograms, and Tuscany, which decreased by nearly 8 kilograms, reaching 590 kilograms. Other regions exceeding the national average (494 kilograms per inhabitant) include Liguria, Umbria, Marche, Lazio, Piedmont, and Friuli Venezia Giulia. The lowest per capita values were recorded in Basilicata (357 kilograms per inhabitant), Molise (375 kilograms), and Calabria (402 kilograms) (Table 1, Figure 2).