THE COST OF URBAN WASTE MANAGEMENT

In this year’s ISPRA Urban Waste Report we have focused, among the many topics, on chapter 5 concerning the evaluation of the management costs of the urban waste service.  

The municipalities analysed were 6.259, about the 79% of Italian territory.  For these, the annual cost per capita and the annual cost per kg of waste were identified. 

A specific data caught our attention: the average cost per capita – euro/inhabitant/year – divided by macro-area.  

  • In Northern Italy the value is about 165 euro/inhabitant/year  
  • In Central Italy it is about 221 euro/inhabitant/year  
  • In Southern Italy it is about 195 euro/inhabitant/year 

All those three values had an increase over the previous year. 

In specific, it emerges that in the North, Liguria is the region with the highest per capita cost – 263 euro/inhabitant/year, in the Centre it is Tuscany – 263 euro/inhabitant/year – while in the South it is Campania with 208 euro/inhabitant/year. 

The regions with the lowest per capita costs are: in the North Trentino Alto Adige with about 137 euro/inhabitant/year, in the Centre Marche with a value of about 163 euro/inhabitant/year and in the South Molise with about 131 euro/inhabitant/year. 

In 2020, ISPRA carried out a further analysis referring to the municipalities with PAYT system, which represent 1,001 municipalities – about 12% of the total number of Italian municipalities.  

In this case, the costs per capita – euro/inhabitant/year – are lower  

  • In Northern Italy the value is about 145 euro/inhabitant/year  
  • In Central Italy it is about 206 euro/inhabitant/year  
  • In Southern Italy it is about 180 euro/inhabitant/year