In February 1997 the Italian national Decree n° 22 was adopted reorganising the framework conditions and the strategic outlook for MSW. Today Italy collects separately 48 per cent of all MSW with peaks of around 70 per cent.

In February 1997 the Italian national Decree n° 22 was adopted reorganising the framework conditions and the strategic outlook for MSW in the whole country. The framework law acted as a fundamental driver to renew MSW management in over 8400 Italian municipalities; it established extensive EPR schemes for packaging waste and specific hazardous waste (such as batteries, pharma and others) and boosted separate collection also of organic waste.

Today Italians collect separately 48 per cent of all MSW with peaks of about 70 per cent in the two best-performing Regions such as Veneto and Trentino-South Tirol (with a population of about 6 million) and other three Italian Regions placed at about the 60 per cent (population about 13 million).

In the two decades between 1997 and 2017 the amounts of organic waste collected separately increased by a factor 10, while main dry recyclables (i.e. paper, cardboard, plastics and glass) have risen by a factor four “only”.