Recycling and employment: the virtues of a circular economy

A study promoted by the Ministry of the Environment and conducted by Conai, together with Althesys, looks at the relationship between urban waste management policies and economic growth and employment in the European Union. And meanwhile, packaging recycling continues to grow in Italy.

The objective of “zero waste” that inspires EU waste management policies, and the corresponding model of circular economy (by which waste products are converted into resources through the use of renewable raw materials and the production of recyclable products) may represent an important growth factor.
A recent study by Conai foresees two possible scenarios for 2020: one that is “completely hypothetical” and based on the assumption that all European countries by 2020 recycle at least 50% of urban waste and completely stop resorting to landfills; the second, more “prudent”, modulates the objectives in light of the fact that Europe travels at three speeds, with some countries already having reached the ultimate objectives, others that are far from it and depend on landfills and others still, like Italy, where successes (packaging recycling) and failures lay side by side.

Landfills versus thermal treatment. Multiple factors compete to form the differences in question, among them the variety of industrial structures, but also the composition of urban waste (the organic component is much higher further South), and climate also plays a part in this. Indeed, the temperatures of Northern Europe not only favor but actually require a policy of waste combustion with thermal recovery: if some countries were to limit thermal treatment, they would no longer be able to power their heating grids, with serious consequences.
Blanket objectives that do not allow for such distinctions – the study’s authors’ comment – in addition to being difficult to reach, risk producing negative collateral effects. The fact remains, they emphasize, that wherever landfill use is marginal, thermal treatment grows.

The numbers. In the hypothetical scenario, the increase in quantities of material recycled from now until 2020 amounts to 44.8 million t, with an increase in composting (+22.5 million t), a reduction in landfill usage (-71 million t) and growing volumes of thermally treated waste (+37.5 million t).
In the more cautious scenario, the increases in recycling and composting are 21.2 and 10.8 million t, respectively, while the use of landfills drops by 25 million and the need for expanded thermal treatment capacities amounts to 22.3 million t.
In both cases, the repercussions on the economy and employment are considerable.
In the hypothetical scenario, between 2013 and 2020, reaching the objectives generates a direct and inducted volume of business exceeding 136 billion euro, of which 100 derived from collection, separation, composting and intermediate recycling and 36 billion from investments in treatment, recycling and disposal plants.
According to these calculations, the comprehensive added value is 43 billion euro, with 874,000 new jobs (those lost in other waste management fields, like landfills, having been subtracted).
In the more cautious scenario, the additional business derived from reaching the EU targets is estimated at 78 billion euro, with 21 billion invested in plants and 57 billion generated from activities along the supply chain. Added value of 24 billion euro; 432,000 additional jobs, of which 125,000 building plants.

Development projects. On the basis of these considerations, the study identifies certain tools for encouraging the process of convergence and stimulating sector growth, based on the industrialization of the recycling industry and recovering efficiency during the waste collection and sorting phases. Possible interventions range from introducing a “pay as you throw” principle (the more unrecycled trash you generate, the more you pay) to encouraging association and integration among concerns, and from supporting R&D (for example into the compatibility of mixed plastics, chemical recycling of polymers and polylaminate treatment) to taking advantage of the Green Public Procurement in order to incentivize the development of products, technologies and services with low environmental impact, and the concerns that make them.                 

Packaging: recovery in 2013
In Italy in 2013, total recovery of packaging waste (recycling + energy recovery) reached 77.5% of that put on the market, equivalent to 8,753,000 t out of a total of 11,297,000 t, equal to 3 out of 4 packaging units (as recently as 2008 the figure was 1 out of 3). Even considering only recycling (7,633,000 t, 67.6% of market issue), the data confirms that the last objective set by European and Italian law has been reached.
And so, in a little over 15 years, the system of consortia headed by Conai has reduced by more than 60% the volume of packaging waste sent to the landfill, with an economic and environmental benefit to the country that can be quantified in 15.2 billion euro and 125 million t less of CO2 emitted into the atmosphere.
It’s worth remembering that Conai counts approximately 1,000,000 concerns as members, as well as the 6 consortia specialized by material: steel (Ricrea), aluminium (Cial), paper/carton (Comieco), wood (Rilegno), plastic (Corepla) and glass (Coreve).