Angelo Santini, Fabio Tatti
In 2024, the ratio of the quantities of organic waste recycled to the quantities collected separately was 82.1%, increasing both compared with 2023 (80.9%) and with 2022 (79.9%).
Organic waste represents a key stream for achieving the recovery and recycling targets for municipal waste laid down in the legislation in force. It is therefore essential, on the one hand, to capture increasing quantities through the optimisation of separate collection, so as to minimise the quantities sent for landfill disposal.
The indicator measures the ratio between the annual quantity of organic waste collected separately and the quantity recycled, and is part of the core set of indicators identified by the National Strategy for the Circular Economy.
To measure progress in circularity policy, thereby providing the basis for identifying common long-term objectives and defining new policies.
For the organic fraction, the separate collection obligation has applied at European Union level since 31 December 2023, pursuant to Article 22 of Directive 2008/98/EC. In Italy, under Article 182-ter of Legislative Decree No. 152/2006, the collection obligation has applied to all municipalities since 31 December 2021.
Pursuant to paragraph 6 of the same Article 182-ter, the collection of the wet fraction includes biodegradable and compostable packaging and materials certified according to UNI EN 13432. The regulatory framework governing the collection of organic waste and biodegradable and compostable plastic waste is important because:
- it makes a substantial contribution to achieving the overall national separate collection target, which must be at least 65% of municipal waste;
- it contributes significantly to the European municipal waste recycling target, equal to 50% by 2020 and 55% by 2025.
ISPRA - Rapporto Rifiuti Urbani (various editions)
ISPRA, Italian Institute for Environmental Protection and Research
The data collected on a national scale, by regional macro-area, regional, province and municipality can be freely consulted and downloaded from the website www. catasto-rifiuti. isprambiente. it.
National
2020-2024
The indicator is obtained by comparing the total quantity of recycled organic waste to the quantity of organic waste collected in Italy.
In 2024, the ratio between the quantities of organic waste recycled and the quantities collected separately was 82.1% (Table 1 and Figure 1).
The trend since 2020 has been increasing. In 2024, the rate stood at 82.1%, slightly higher than the 80.9% recorded in 2023 and the 79.9% recorded in 2022 (Table 1 and Figure 1).
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Table 1: Trend in the ratio of organic waste recycled to organic waste collected separately, 2020-2024. Data source
ISPRA |
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Figure 1: Trend in the ratio of organic waste recycled to organic waste collected separately. Data source
ISPRA |
A comparison between the overall municipal waste separate collection rate (67.7% in 2024) and the municipal waste recycling rate (52.3%) shows a non-negligible gap between collection and material recovery. This highlights the need to pay particular attention to the quality of separate collection, which, in the case of organic waste, plays a key role in ensuring the production of a soil improver, compost, compliant with regulatory requirements and therefore marketable as a product (Table 1).
Moreover, organic waste sent for recycling is the material fraction with the greatest influence on the municipal waste recycling rate, accounting for 40.9%.