In Italy, only 43% of collected plastic is recycled
Environment — di Dario Zerbi
More than half of plastic waste still ends up in waste-to-energy plants and landfills. Greenpeace's call: single-use plastic must be reduced immediately.
In Italy, only 43% of collected plastic is recycled
More than half of plastic waste still ends up in waste-to-energy plants and landfills. Greenpeace's call: single-use plastic must be reduced immediately.
We sort a great deal of it, yet we still recycle very little. And without resolving policies that address the root of the problem, plastic will continue to be a serious threat to the environment. The national consortium for the collection, recycling and recovery of plastic packaging (Corepla) highlights that, despite the efforts made by Italian citizens, recycling this material is still a complex business: only 43.5 per cent is genuinely transformed into new objects – which are moreover often of lower quality than the originals – while 40 per cent ends up in waste-to-energy plants for energy production and 16.5 per cent in landfill.
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Italy is a virtuous country
Yet in recent years we have made great strides on the separate waste collection front: with a waste recovery rate approaching 80 per cent, we are contending with Germany for the European top spot in the sector.
When it comes to polymer materials, consider that in 1998 just 1.8 kilograms per inhabitant were collected, whereas today we have reached around 18 kilograms per citizen: between 2015 and 2017, plastic packaging sent for recovery grew exponentially (+64 per cent), bringing an economic benefit of over 2 billion euros from raw materials not consumed, energy production and savings in CO2 emissions.
Read also: Major companies join forces for a new plastics economy
Last year the quantity of plastic placed on the market increased by 2.3 per cent, yet collection grew by 14 per cent. As in other countries on the Old Continent, however, we struggle to give a second life to this enormous volume of materials.
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The challenges to overcome
Beyond ever-growing commitment and awareness, citizens continue to make mistakes: separate plastic waste collection covers only bottles, bags, plates and cups, and not other polymer materials that must be disposed of in general waste, such as toys, balls, felt-tip pens and flip-flops. But the real crux of the matter lies both upstream and downstream: on one hand, greater commitment is needed from producers in the use of recyclable plastics, so that once objects reach the end of their useful life they can be recycled more easily; on the other, the number of treatment plants must be increased, because the current ones are not able to handle the enormous volume of waste produced by citizens.
Read also: European Union: all plastic must be recyclable by 2030
The Chinese ban and the Greenpeace report
In recent months, the Chinese ban on importing this type of waste has further worsened the situation. Even so, as the report "Plastica: il riciclo non basta. Produzione, immissione al consumo e riciclo della plastica in Italia", drawn up by the Scuola agraria del parco di Monza on behalf of Greenpeace, makes clear, the volumes that Italy exported to China in 2017 – amounting to just over 40,000 tonnes – are far lower than those of other nations such as the United States, Japan and Germany.
The study highlights how a further increase in Italy's plastic packaging recycling rate is conceivable, but bridging the enormous gap between the quantities placed on the market and those actually recycled requires decisive action that addresses the root of the problem. And the path forward is practically unavoidable: recourse to single-use plastic must be drastically and urgently reduced, by redesigning packaging towards durability and reusability, even before recyclability. Citizens are being asked to sort more and more, and better and better, but only in this way will it be possible to make the most of their efforts.