Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs
Research Study on
International Recycling Experience
Annex A
A4 ITALY - MONZA
A4.1 OVERVIEW
A summary description of Monza and key recycling data are
presented in Table A4.1.
Table AA4.1 Overview of Monza
City
Background
Population
Details
Density
3619/km2
Type of area
Urban & rural
Type of
housing
Apartments: 45% (concentrated in city centre)
Houses: 55% (predominantly in the suburban areas)
Definition of
MSW
All waste from the domestic sector, and commercial
waste similar to household waste
Recycling
target
At national level, recycling levels for MSW are set at:
119 790



Recycling
achievement
Principal
Recycling
Drivers
15% of collected material for 1999;
25% for 2001;
35% for 2003.
Officially published figures stated separate collection at
51% (1999), corresponding to 236 kg per capita (total
waste production was 464 kg per capita). No recycling
achievement has been reported.



landfill disposal charges;
requirement to provide door to door collection
systems;
markets for paper and glass;

public information campaign.
Monza has one of the highest recycling rates in the region of
Lombardy. The population is representative in terms of
income and education levels of the rest of the region.
Lombardy is the richest region in Italy. Separate collection
rates, not including bulky waste, are 20 per cent for the rest
of Northern Italy, 8 per cent in central Italy and 2 per cent in
Southern Italy.
A4.2 RECYCLING TRENDS
55 250 tonnes of municipal solid waste was produced in
Monza in 1999. 51 per cent of domestic and commercial
waste was collected for recycling. The rest represents mixed
waste collected from apartment buildings. Figure A4.1 shows
the overall municipal solid waste trends since 1995 and
changes in recycling rates over this period.
Figure AA4.1 Trends in MSW generation and amount of
household and commercial recycling in Monza
Figure A4.2 shows the amounts of material collected by
separate collection and then recycled in Monza in 1999.
Figure AA4.2 Quantities of separately collected materials
for households and the commercial sector, 1999
The Municipal data cannot be disaggregated to determine the
rate of recyclable collection for households. There are low
residual wastes for kitchen waste (98 per cent purity), glass
(98 per cent purity) and paper (95 per cent purity). Collection
of plastic has a purity of only 62 per cent.
A4.3 MSW MANAGEMENT STRUCTURE
Collection and treatment of MSW and recycled material is a
duty of the municipality. Collection activities in Monza are
performed by an external contractor. The present contract is
for six years. There are around 10 companies that compete
for the contracts. Material recovery and separation plants are
owned by private companies.
The contractor receives income from the collection service it
provides to the municipality. The collection companies sell
the collected materials to private treatment plants. Some
contracts between the collection company and the processors
may specify that the collection companies receive a
percentage of revenue sales of the recycled material.
Packaging waste collected is bought by the National
Packaging Association (CONAI), see Section A4.6 for
further details. CONAI finances its obligations under the
agreement with a packaging fee levied on sales of packaging,
see Section A4.7 for further details.
A4.4 COLLECTION MECHANISM AND
ACCESSIBILITY OF RECYCLING FACILITIES
Separate collection for kitchen waste started in March 1997
and was extended to the rest of Monza by July 1998. Separate
door to door collection of paper and plastic started in July
1998. Previous to the introduction of separate collection
systems, a purple bag was used for collection of commingled
materials.
Table A4.2. shows collection methods and final disposal of
MSW.
Table AA4.2 Management strategy for municipal solid
waste
Types of materials
Method type
MSW not separated
(including public street
cleaning, large household
waste not recycled)
White transparent bag; door Landfill
to door
Kitchen waste
Bucket or bin (120 litres for Composting
apartments and 10 litres for
houses); Door to door
Garden waste
Civic amenity site
Paper and cardboard
Box or bin (120 litres) door Recycling
to door
Glass and aluminium cans
Recycling containers (for
apartments)
Recycling
Plastic (tanks for liquids) and Yellow bag; Door to door
aluminium cans
(for houses); Recycling
areas in each apartment
building.
Recycling
Metals
Civic amenity site
Recycling
Wood
Civic amenity site
Recycling
Large bulky waste
Collection on demand
Recycling
Others (small white goods, Civic amenity site
small quantities of hazardous
waste, etc. )
Final
disposal
Composting
Recycling
Building waste
Civic amenity site
Landfill
Any waste that has been incorrectly sorted may not be
collected. Similarly, clear plastic bags for refuse allow quality
control of refuse.
There are around 250 recycling containers for glass and
aluminium, indicating a population density of 479 people per
recycling container. Recycling containers for paper and
plastic, and for kitchen waste, are being phased in for
apartments, at a density of one set of containers for every 7 to
10 apartments. Currently, mixed waste is collected from
apartment buildings, although future efforts will focus on
increasing sorting from apartments.
Kitchen waste is collected separately from other recyclables
and refuse. Every house receives a bin (10 litres) for
collection of organic matter and biodegradable bags (100 per
household per year) . The bins are placed on the road sides on
collection days, and are emptied manually. Apartments are
provided with 120 litre containers for separated kitchen waste.
High-rise buildings, canteens and fruit shops have been
provided with 240 litre bins for temporary deposit of
separated kitchen waste. The bins are placed on the roadside
on collection days and is emptied mechanically.
Home composting is also encouraged by the Municipality,
with free composting courses offered. Backyard composting
is a common activity, partly due to the fact that, traditionally,
it has been done, but also because collection companies can
refuse to collect rubbish that has been sorted incorrectly.
Paper and cardboard, and plastic and aluminium collection
takes place once a week. Residual MSW collection takes
place twice a week. Kitchen waste is collected twice a week.
Refuse collection and separated material collection takes
place on different days. Kitchen waste and other recyclables
are collected using bulk lorries. Waste is then transferred to
compacting vehicles which transport the recyclables to their
respective collection and separation plants. The use of bulk
lorries and compacting vehicles reduces collection costs.
Street markets are provided with compacting vehicles for
waste such as wood, paper, organic and mixed residual.
A4.4.1 Participation Rate
Official figures are not available. However, the ability for
collection companies to refuse to collect waste that is
incorrectly sorted is a strong driver for households to sort
their waste. It is therefore likely that participation is high.
A4.5 COSTS AND REVENUES
Garden waste is sold to composting plants for around 20 Euro
(£12) per tonne. Kitchen waste has a price of around 60 Euro
(£36) per tonne. The higher price reflects the fact that the
latter is better suited to production of quality compost. Table
A4.3 provides details of the prices of separately collection
materials.
The cost of public information campaigns is around 25 000
Euro (£15 000) per year (two publicity campaigns have been
carried out since the beginning of the collection scheme in
1998). The publicity campaign focuses on the distribution of
literature and posters.
A4.6 SUCCESS OF THE SCHEME
Local authorities are required to provide separate collection
of packaging from other types of waste in the domestic sector.
The landfill disposal fee Lombardy provides a strong
incentive for refuse collection companies to collect waste that
has been correctly sorted. Strong public relation activities
have further been of critical support to the two drivers noted
above.
Prior to the implementation of municipal collection systems,
demand for recyclable paper and glass by processors was the
only driver behind recycling activity.
A4.7 LEGAL/ REGULATORY REQUIREMENTS
The Waste Management and Packaging Act was issued in
1997 (see Legislative Decree 22/97), in response to the EC
Directives 91/156 on waste, 91/689 on hazardous waste, and
94/62 on packaging and packaging waste. The decree phases
out landfilling of waste other than building waste or waste
coming from sorting activities not later than July 2001.
Targets for achieving waste separation are 15 per cent in
1999, 25 per cent in 2000 and 35 per cent in 2003.
The decree requires that local authorities provide the means
for separate collection of packaging from other types of waste
in the domestic sector. Packaging producers are obligated to
participate in the National Packaging Association (CONAI).
In July 1999, an agreement was made between the National
Association of Italian Municipalities (ANCI) and the
National Packaging Association (CONAI) that regulates the
modalities of collection and storage of packaging material.
The agreement states:

the price which is paid by CONAI to municipalities
for the recycled materials;
 the quality standards for materials (the price is strictly
dependent on such quality;
 the collection mechanisms, according to the size of
municipality.
The agreement states that steel, aluminium and plastic waste
shall be delivered by municipalities to collection areas
located:

for municipalities with fewer than 100 000 inhabitants,
at less than 25 km;
 for municipalities with 100 000 to 300 000 inhabitants,
at less than 30 km;
 for municipalities with more than 300 000 inhabitants,
at less than 25 km.
A4.8 FISCAL INCENTIVES
The packaging fee was introduced in 1998 at a national level.
Table A4.3 outlines the level of fee levied on different
packaging materials.
Table AA4.3 Levels of packaging fee[1]
Material
Packaging fee Price paid to municipalities (min £/tonne
max: according to impurity rate.
£/tonne.
Paper and
cellulose
9
6 - 7 (for mixed paper);
39 - 45 (for pure paper packaging).
Plastic
42
63 - 120
Glass
3
9 - 18
Wood
1.5
3-6
Aluminium
30
90 - 105
Steel and
ferrous metals
9
18 - 36
The Regional Law 13/97 fixed a tax on waste disposed to
landfill or to incinerators without energy recovery. The
landfill tax is equivalent to 12 Euro (£7) per tonne in
Lombardy. This tax is additional to the disposal fee paid to
landfill owners.
A4.8.1 Waste Disposal Costs
The average cost of incineration is 96 Euro (£58) per tonne.
The average cost of landfill for non-hazardous waste is 103
Euro (£62) per tonne. Transportation costs must be added
these figures, and these are equivalent to an average of 20
Euro (£12) per tonne.
A4.8.2 Charging Systems for Waste Management
Waste charges in Monza are financed by an annual flat-rate
tax, linked to the size of accommodation being considered.
This is soon to be replaced by a fee, on the basis of volume,
weight of waste or an average waste production rate per
capita.
A4.9 PUBLIC AWARENESS
Strong public relations activities have been carried out by the
municipality to ensure the smooth running of collection
systems. These can be summarised as:



information campaigns;
organisation of public meetings;
creation of an information shop (Ecosportello) for
citizens to ask for further details on separate
collection and waste management;
 organisation of free composting courses;
 schools environmental education programmes; and
 discussions of recycling issues with stall holders in
street markets.
Initial problems with the collection system were related to the
volume of the available collection bins (inappropriate sizes
for households) and the distribution of too few recycling bags.
The municipality organises meetings with the public in each
of the five districts of the municipality. Here, they distribute
information leaflets, and discuss problems with the public.
The municipality holds meetings with apartment building
administrators and with the private cleaning companies
building owners hire to discuss any problems.
A4.10 MARKETS FOR END PRODUCTS
Table AA4.4 Markets for recycled products
Material
End Use
Paper and
Cellulose
Production of paper board (90% is made from waste
paper).
Production of newsprint;
Production of sanitary products.
Plastic
Production of plastic goods, such as furniture.
Some used for energy recovery.
Glass
Production of glass.
Wood
Production of plywood, cellulose material and
composting.
Aluminium
Used in foundries as raw material.
More than 20 foundries accept aluminium packaging.
Steel and
Used in foundries as raw material. There are six plants
ferrous metals. in Italy which treat steel from cans and other packaging
to produce steel sheets and raw materials for foundries.
Italy imports waste paper because national production only
covers 30 per cent of demand. There are around 100 paper
mills which use waste paper in Italy, 20 of which are located
in Lombardy. Recycled glass forms currently 34 per cent of
glass produced. The markets for plastic are weak and, in
some cases, non-government organisations support the
financing of plastic recycling.
Kitchen waste is recycled and used by farms that are located
at large distances from the municipality (around 300 kms.)
Garden waste is sent to a composting plant located 20 km
from the municipality. This composting plant distributes the
product for free to residents and farmers in the nearby areas.
Composting plants are meeting quality standards stipulated
by regulation.
A key driver for recycling activity before formal collection
systems for separated waste were put into place by the
municipality was the existence of markets for paper and glass.
A4.11 FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS
Future development will include:

a new waste fee that will replace the actual annual flat
rate tax system;
 a public information campaign to advise days and
times for door to door collections;
 the building of a second civic amenity site; and
 the hiring of another contractor to collect all waste
from car parts.
[1] FT 12/04/00 £1 = 0.602
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Published 26 April 2001
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