Italy, even if there are those who find it hard to believe it, is virtuous in waste.
For example, the municipalities that produce little waste are close to 600;
to be precise, 598 are those defined as 'free waste', that is, with an undifferentiated one below 75 kilograms per person per year.
Together with other local eco-administrations, these are the ones awarded by Legambiente which - in the new report 'Comuni Ricicloni 2020' - has developed an ad hoc ranking, which shows that this year the cities (small, medium and large) ecological, 51 more than last year.
According to Legambiente the best area in the country is the North East thanks to door-to-door and punctual rates.
The most virtuous regions are Veneto and Trentino Alto Adige.
The South improved considerably, passing from 84 to 122 Municipalities equal to 20.4% of the total.
The credit goes above all to Abruzzo which brings its virtuous municipalities from 15 to 38 (with a jump from 5 to 12% of the total of the municipalities of the Region), to Campania which rises from 23 to 36 (from 4 to 7%), and Sicily which goes from one to eight (from 0 to 2%).
But the Center remains "immobile": the Municipalities represent 6.5% of the total of those in the rankings.
The North, despite the increase in absolute numbers, for the first time drops from 77% to 73.1%;
even if Lombardy grows by 22 municipalities, going from 85 to 107. Veneto is confirmed as the Region with the highest number: 168 Municipalities (30% of the total).
Trentino-Alto Adige follows with 78 municipalities (28%), and Friuli Venezia Giulia with 48 (22%).
The only 'free' municipalities from waste are Pordenone, Trento, Treviso and Belluno.
On the other side of the ranking, with zero waste free municipalities, we find the Aosta Valley, with Liguria and Puglia both losing their two virtuous Municipalities.
Among the winners also Fise Assoambiente (urban hygiene, recovery and disposal of urban and special waste, as well as reclamation) and Utilitalia (the Federation of water, environment and energy companies), representing all private and public companies for their commitment .
According to the latest data from the Higher Institute for Environmental Protection and Research (Ispra), waste production is still high with 499.7 kilograms per person per year;
separate collection intercepts on average at national level more than half of the waste produced (58.1%), although there is still a strong gap between the North (67.7%), the South (46.1%) and the Center ( 54.1%).
These numbers, however, put us in a position of advantage in Europe, where we can say - observes Legambiente - that we are "the champions of the circular economy".
So much so that we are able to recycle 79% of waste, more than double the EU average, which stops at 38%.
The new economic paradigm - which does not waste resources but recovers raw materials to put them back into the production cycle - manages to reach 88 billion, and almost 600,000 workers in Italy.
And the forecasts are even better: it can create new jobs up to 1.5 million jobs, bring savings to companies up to 600 billion per year, improve environmental quality by contributing to the reduction, with a weight that oscillates between 2 and 4% of greenhouse gas emissions.
