On 4 December the Sustainability Forum was held, with a focus on the circular economy. Among the key players is Conou, the consortium that recycles used oils.
Betting on the circular economy is the only option available to us: the linear development model (produce, consume and discard) has shown all its limitations and must be replaced with an alternative model aimed at preserving our planet's resources. But where do we stand, in Italy, in this transition process that is anything but straightforward? This was the key question at the Sustainability Forum, organised in Milan on Tuesday 4 December by 24 Ore Business School in collaboration with Il Sole 24 Ore.
The first panel of the Sustainability Forum took stock of the strategies and regulations governing recycling and the circular economy. On this front, journalist Jacopo Giliberto noted, "Italy is among the world leaders." This result is also the product of a positive convergence between the public sector and the business community, which began with the Ronchi decree (Legislative Decree of 5 February 1997, no. 22) that revolutionised waste management by establishing the system of consortia.
As Andrea Bianchi, director of industrial policy at Confindustria, recalled, "the concept of extended producer responsibility brought about a very significant shift in mindset: up to that point, industry was concerned only with producing goods, certainly not with disposing of them." Twenty years on, the results are tangible. "In 1998 one in three pieces of packaging was recovered; today we are at four in five. We have already met the European targets for 2025; only on plastic do we need to catch up, but we have seven years to do so," recalled Giorgio Quagliuolo, chairman of Conai (Consorzio Nazionale Imballaggi).
Among the key players at this first panel of the Sustainability Forum is Conou, the national consortium for the management, collection and treatment of used mineral oils. "Our long experience has allowed us to build up an interesting and qualified know-how: we are pioneers of the circular economy," Conou chairman Paolo Tomasi told LifeGate. "In 1940–41, in the midst of a wartime economy, two royal decrees gave guidance on how to recover used oil and reuse it. Since then a story began that has continued over the years, with collection and treatment techniques being steadily refined. Our plants now allow us to obtain a product with characteristics equivalent to those of a product derived from crude oil refining."
Read also: Cos'è il Conou, il consorzio che ricicla gli oli usati e perché è fondamentale per l'ambiente e l'economia
Whereas in other areas Italy is spoken of as a country in a state of perpetual delay, when it comes to used oil recycling we have a great deal to teach others. In 2017, companies within the Conou system recovered 45 per cent of the total placed on the market and sent 99 per cent of that for regeneration, against a European average of 55 per cent. But there is never room for complacency, because every percentage point gained has enormous environmental and economic consequences. For this reason Conou, in collaboration with Confindustria, has launched a training roadshow aimed at businesses, called CircOILeconomy. If used oil is not stored correctly, Tomasi points out, it risks becoming contaminated or mixed with other substances, which makes the regeneration process very costly or even impossible. "The regulations are complex, but we want to make sure that applying them is straightforward," he concludes.
In short, Italy has tackled the challenge of the circular economy methodically, but cannot yet claim to have won it. Taking stock of the outstanding issues is MEP Simona Bonafè, who took part in the work on the package on the circular economy approved by the European Union in May 2018. First and foremost, she stressed, our municipalities set themselves targets in terms of separate waste collection, but waste recycling is a subsequent step that only becomes possible if adequate facilities exist. One of the most challenging goals is reducing the share of waste sent to landfill to 10 per cent: at present, at 25 per cent, we are still a long way off.
Finally, Bonafè concluded, "circular economy" means not only recovering and recycling waste, but also generating less of it. This calls for new business models (such as the sharing economy) and new production processes that reduce the share of waste. Regulatory support is certainly needed: in Italy, for a great many products (such as textiles), end-of-waste decrees are lacking — decrees that set out in precise detail the process by which a waste material ceases to be classified as such and is once again considered a product. Economic support is equally necessary; but Europe, lacking fiscal competences, has been unable to provide for tax incentives.
The circular economy, according to Bonafè, is innovation: this is demonstrated by the countless start-ups that are testing themselves in this field. "We already have centres of excellence — she concluded — we must turn them into a system."