Costanza Mariotta
Construction and demolition waste represents, in absolute terms, the largest stream of hazardous waste generated at both the European and national levels. The construction sector, through its intensive use of natural resources, generates significant impacts on the local environment and a progressive depletion of raw materials due to the opening of natural aggregate quarries. The European Commission has therefore deemed it a priority to monitor the flow of waste from construction and demolition activities by setting, in Article 11 of Directive 2008/98/EC on waste, a specific target for preparing for reuse, recycling, and other types of material recovery, including backfilling operations that use waste as a substitute for other materials. In 2024, the recovery and recycling rate of construction and demolition waste is expected to be 82.4%, above the 70% target set for 2020 by Directive 2008/98/EC.
The indicator provides the quantity of non-hazardous Waste from Economic Activities waste from construction and demolition operations, identified in Chapter 17 of the Annex to Decision 2000/532/EC, excluding excavated soil and rock and dredged material, sent for preparation for reuse, recycling, and other types of material recovery. The information base is provided by the environmental declarations (MUD) submitted annually by the entities required pursuant to Article 189 of Legislative Decree 152/2006. According to the objective verification method identified in Decision 2011/753/EU, the recovery rate must be calculated with respect to the quantities of waste generated by construction and demolition activities. In the absence of a mandatory MUD declaration for producers, the production of waste generated by construction and demolition operations, pertaining only to chapter 17 of the European Waste List, is quantified using a specific estimation methodology that involves the use of information contained in the MUD database relating to the management operations conducted on the waste of the aforementioned EER chapter 17.
Monitoring of the target set by Directive 2008/98/EC on waste, where Article 11, paragraph 2, letter b), identifies the target of preparing for reuse, recycling and other forms of material recovery, excluding the material in its natural state referred to in entry 170504 of the European Waste List (soil and rocks, other than those referred to in entry 170503), set at 70% by 2020.
Directive 2008/98/EC on waste.
Decision 2011/753/EU establishing rules and calculation methods for verifying compliance with the targets referred to in Article 11, paragraph 2, point (b) of Directive 2008/98/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council.
In order to move towards a European recycling society with a high level of resource efficiency, the European Commission has deemed it necessary to include the waste stream generated by the construction sector among the priority streams to be monitored, setting, in Article 11 of Directive 2008/98/EC, a specific target for preparing for reuse, recycling and other types of material recovery, including backfilling operations using waste as a substitute for other materials. The target, set at 70% by 2020, was introduced into national law in Article 181 of Legislative Decree no. 152/2006. In this regard, it should be noted that Directive 2018/851/EU (part of the so-called circular economy package) inserted the new point 6 into the aforementioned Article 11 of Directive 2008/98/EC, which required, by 31 December 2024, the Commission to assess the introduction of targets for the preparation for reuse and recycling of construction and demolition waste and related specific material fractions. The calculation methods that Member States can adopt to verify the achievement of the target set by the European directive were identified by Decision 2011/753/EU.
ISPRA, Waste from Economic Activities Report, 2017-2026 Editions
ISPRA, Waste from Economic Activities Report - 2014 Edition
Improve information on construction and demolition waste treatment processes to assess the quality of recycled aggregates produced.
Use the information contained in the database of annual environmental declarations (MUD) made by entities required by current legislation (not accessible to the public).
National
2010-2024
Recycling and recovery of construction and demolition waste (percentage).
The calculation methods that Member States can adopt to verify the achievement of the target set by the European Directive were identified by Decision 2011/753/EU. With regard to waste from construction and demolition operations, the methodology indicated in Annex III defines the recovery rate of construction and demolition waste as the ratio between the "quantity of construction and demolition waste recovered" and the "total quantity of construction and demolition waste generated". All calculations were conducted at the level of each individual code of the European Waste List. For the purposes of calculating the recovery rate, it is assumed that the annual production of non-hazardous waste from construction and demolition operations (denominator of the formula provided for in the calculation methodology of Decision 2011/753/EC) is equivalent to the quantity of construction and demolition waste sent for recovery or disposal, excluding the quantities of waste subjected to intermediate management operations in order to avoid duplication of data (preliminary treatment operations, such as chemical, physical, biological treatment and reconditioning). Information on the generation of construction and demolition waste is transmitted in accordance with Regulation 2150/2002/EC on waste statistics and includes:
“a) wastes from section F of the NACE Rev.2 code as referred to in Annex I, section 2, of the same Regulation:
06.1 – Ferrous metal wastes
06.2 – Non-ferrous metal wastes
06.3 – Mixed metal wastes
07.01 – Glass wastes
07.4 – Plastic wastes
07.4 – Wastes in wood
b) the total of the waste category (of all economic activities):
12.1 – Mineral waste from construction and demolition in accordance with Annex III of the aforementioned regulation”.
For the calculation of the quantities recovered, following the remediation of the MUD database, the quantities of waste listed in Annex III to the aforementioned Decision 2011/753/EU sent for recovery operations (R3, R4, R5, R12) are taken into consideration, excluding the quantities of waste imported and recovered in Italy. In detail, the recovered quantities of waste from construction and demolition operations are transmitted by including exclusively the following codes from Chapter 17 of the Annex to Decision 2000/532/EC: 170101, 170102, 170103, 170107, 170201, 170202, 170203, 170302, 170401, 170402, 170403, 170404, 170405, 170406, 170407, 170411, 170508, 170604, 170802, 170904. Therefore, in calculating the target, the quantities of excavated earth and rock and dredged materials are not taken into account. The quantity of waste used for backfilling operations must be reported separately from the quantity of waste prepared for reuse, recycling, or other material recovery operations. The recovery rate was determined by considering the quantities of waste exported from our country, in accordance with the provisions of Regulation (EC) No. 1013/2006 on the cross-border transport of waste, for recovery/disposal operations in other EU and non-EU countries.
From the data analysis, the recovery and recycling rate of construction and demolition waste in 2024 is above the target set by Directive 2008/98/EC (70% in 2020), at 82.4% (Figure 1).
The recovery and recycling rate continued to grow from 2010 to 2024, rising from 68.5% to 82.4%, exceeding the target set by Directive 2008/98/EC (70% in 2020) already starting from 2011 (74.1%) (Figure 1).
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Table 1: Generation of waste from construction and demolition operations according to the codification of Regulation (EC) No. 2150/2002 on waste statistics Fonte
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Table 2: Preparation for reuse, recycling and other forms of material recovery of construction and demolition waste according to the codification of Regulation (EC) No. 2150/2002 on waste statistics, excluding backfilling Fonte
ISPRA Legenda
a) Including the quantities of waste sent for recovery activities in landfill plants equal to 503 thousand tonnes in 2020, 343 thousand tonnes in 2021, 368 thousand tonnes in 2022, 372 thousand tonnes in 2023 and 462 thousand tonnes in 2024. b) Including exports equal to 89 thousand tonnes in 2020, 120 thousand tonnes in 2021, 128 thousand tonnes in 2022, 110 thousand tonnes in 2023 and 118 thousand tonnes in 2024. |
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Figure 1: Trend in the percentage of preparation for reuse, recycling and other forms of material recovery, excluding backfilling, of construction and demolition waste Fonte
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Figure 2: Quantity of construction and demolition waste recovered in backfilling operations (R10) Fonte
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After the drastic decline recorded in the two-year period 2019-2020, the construction sector showed a recovery in the following years, also supported by government incentives aimed at the energy retrofitting of buildings. These construction/renovation activities, as well as the continuation and launch of public infrastructure projects, have resulted in increased quantities of construction and demolition waste produced. Compared to 2023, there has been a 4.3% increase in waste generated, corresponding to 2.6 million tons, for a total national production of approximately 64.2 million tons in 2024 (61.6 million tons in 2023, Table 1).
Material recovery, totaling approximately 53 million tons, excluding backfilling operations, shows an increase of 6.1%, corresponding to almost 3.1 million tons (Table 2). For the mineral portion of construction and demolition waste, the main form of recovery is the transformation into fine or coarse aggregates that can be used in the production of concrete or asphalt or in road construction.
As required by Article 4 of Decision 753/2011/EU, the quantity of waste used for backfilling operations is reported separately from the quantity of waste prepared for reuse, recycling, or other material recovery operations. In 2024, this quantity amounts to almost 408 thousand tonnes (49 thousand tonnes less than in 2023, Figure 2). Also considering the quantities used for backfilling operations, the recovery rate stands at 83.1%.