Incinerators in Italy: An overview in the light of the Circular Economy model

In the Circular Economy paradigm, waste management is recognised as an important sub-sector of circular economy which allows recovery of resources and environmental impact prevention. In Italy incineration of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) still counts for 18%. On one hand, knowledge and information on waste flows and technological features of plants (pre-treatment and treatment pants, composting plants, incinerators and landfill) is known. On the other hand, information and studies on economic aspects of such plants are limited. Due to the regulation of the sector, one of the relevant economic indicators of the incinerators are the fees to access to these plants ("gate fees"). This study frames the waste management sector within the Italian legislative structure. Furthermore, it aims at partially close the gap in literature regarding the gate fees of incinerators. Results show that the gate fees are not uniform, and they range between 64 Euro tonne (Napoli in Campania region) to 112 Euro tonne (Padova in Veneto region). This research is also relevant considering the new born regulatory and control authority (ARERA) which includes since January 2018 the waste management sector.