Zero Waste, separate
collection and the
management of Biowaste
From the global vision to local practice
Enzo Favoino
Scuola Agraria del Parco di Monza
Chair, Scientific Committee, ZeroWasteEurope
Why a “material recycling society”?
• Environmental benefits
• Local economic benefits
• Occupational implications (green jobs)
• Supply of raw materials
Scuola Agraria del Parco di Monza
Resource management
The historical perspective –
a clear direction
• Bellusco (1993): first curbside scheme
with separation of organics  65%
• Carnate (1995): transparent bag to collect
residuals  70-75%
• Torre Boldone (1997): PAYT  80%
• ZW Municipalities: continued re-design of
the system - hitting the high 80’s, 90% in
some cases
Scuola Agraria del Parco di Monza
“Zero waste is more the journey,
than the destination”
Tiny tweets,
big steps forward
Scuola Agraria del Parco di Monza
The “Resource scarcity crisis”
http://www.eea.europa.eu/highlights/europe2019s-demand-for-resourcesreaching?utm_source=EEASubscriptions&utm_medium=RSSFeeds&utm_campaign=Generic
Scuola Agraria del Parco di Monza
Scuola Agraria del Parco di Monza
The EU
“Circular Economy”package
• Material recovery target: 70%
• (for packaging waste: 80%)
• Target on food waste prevention: 30%
• Mandatory separate collection of
organics
Scuola Agraria del Parco di Monza
(…) We are also proposing to withdraw the
existing proposal on the circular economy, to
make way for a broader and more
ambitious approach that can be more effective.
We want to look beyond the narrow focus on
waste and to 'close the loop' of the
circular economy, for example by addressing
recycling in product design and creating a
market for secondary raw material.
Scuola Agraria del Parco di Monza
The principles of Zero Waste:
the 4 “R”s
• Reduce
• Reuse
• Recycle
• Re-design
Scuola Agraria del Parco di Monza
A basic ZW workprogramme
• Kerbside collection – include the organics!
• Waste prevention practices in the remit of
Community Responsibility
• Pay-as-you-throw
• Check composition of residual waste
• Feed back to producers in order to address
non-reusablle/recyclable materials
Scuola Agraria del Parco di Monza
What Communities may do right
away for reducing their waste
• Home composting
• Sustainable event management (e.g. no
throwaway tableware as dishes/cutlery)
• Water from the tap
• Cloth (washable) nappies
Scuola Agraria del Parco di Monza
Scuola Agraria del Parco di Monza
The importance of Feeding back
paving the road to minimisation of Residual Waste
Scuola Agraria del Parco di Monza
Scuola Agraria del Parco di Monza
Scuola Agraria del Parco di Monza
What does it take to get there ?
intensive kerbside incl. food waste +
PAYT
> 80 %
70 %
intensive kerbside, incl. food waste
separation
Road containers + kerbside (doorstep)
for a few dry recyclables (paper)
“additional” systems, organics
included trhough containers on the
road
“additional” systems, containers on
the road for dry recyclables
50 %
40 %
20 %
Scuola Agraria del Parco di Monza
The key role of organics
• QUANTITATIVE: fundamental to achieve highest
material recovery rates
• OPERATIONAL: minimising organics in residual
waste makes it possible to shrink collection rounds
– cost-optimisation
– further driving effect for increased separation of dry
recyclables, too)
• QUALITATIVE: reducing organics in residual waste
makes it less “dirty”, remarkably more
“workable”/recyclable
Is all “Biowaste” equal?
Foodwaste



25-45% of MSW
Bulk density: 0,6-0,8 kg/liter
High moisture
Yard and Gardenwaste




•.
2-4kg/m2/yr.
Bulk density: 0,15 – 0,35 kg/l
Medium to low moisture
Sesonality (wheather, rain)
The issue of seasonality
Monthly Collection Trends - Green and Kitchen Biowaste
2.000.000
1.800.000
1.600.000
Green
and
wood
waste
Quantity (kg)
1.400.000
1.200.000
1.000.000
800.000
Kitchen
biowaste
600.000
400.000
200.000
0
1
2
3
4
5
Monthly quanties collected (aggregate PD1
•.
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
Month
Buckets
Volume: 20 to 30 liters




•.
volumes in line with foodwaste production
Prevents mixed collection of food and
gardenwaste and other MSW
Easy to check (small amounts)
To be hand-picked  saves time/money
Intensive collection
of foodwaste at high-rises
•.
Towards city centres

Separate collection of biowaste made
mandatory since 2015 in Germany
 getting into city centres

Ljubljana covering 100% of the population

Salerno (pop. 160.000) S Italy, started
2008, 70% sep. Collection
Milan – pop. 1,4 M
•.
Results:

Diversion of foodwaste from MSW:


Purity of foodwaste from sep. collection:


average non-compostable content 2,7% (worst case 5%)
Support

•.
Foodwaste:  90 kg/inhab/yr  130.000 tpy
90% at last customer satisfaction analyses (ISPO, 2014)
Cost optimisation
(Lombardy, pop. 10M, 1547 Municipalities)
•Cost of collection (green bars)
•and cost of treatment/disposal (blue Treatment
bars)
•Euro/person
+ disposal
collection
TOOLS AND STRATEGIES TO CUT COSTS
Tool

Details
Reducing pick- Hand pick-up of small
up time
receptacles much faster
than mechanical loading
Effective systems to
collect biowaste make its
percentage in Residuals
less than 15 %
Applies where…..
… food waste
collected separately
from garden waste, in
small receptacles
…captures of
biowaste are
increased

Reduction of
the frequency
for collection
of “Residuals”

Use of bulk
Bulk density of food waste …tools for collection
lorries instead is much higher
of food waste prevent
of packer
(0.7kg/dm3) than garden deliveries of garden
trucks
waste
waste
Food scraps in residual waste
Municipality
Altivole
Arcade
Breda di Piave
Casale sul Sile
Castello di Godego
Cessalto
Conegliano
Cornuda
Giavera del Montello
% Food waste
7,82
8,24
7,61
9,42
8,05
6,30
9,40
7,19
6,88
Separate collection rates (on aggregate)
in the Contarina District (2 sub-districts: Priula and
Treviso 3 – 50 Municipalities, pop. 530.000)
•FONTE
Source: Contarina 2013, Ispra 2011, Region Veneto 2012
•dati Contarina 2013, Rapporto Rifiuti ISPRA 2013, dati preliminari 2012; Relazione Rifiuti Urbani ARPAV dati 2013
Specific residual waste production (kg/person.year)
Source: Contarina 2013, Ispra 2011, Region Veneto 2012
‘Green jobs’ and cossts after rolling out
kerbside collection in Treviso
(pop. 80.000, 86% separate collection)
Staff
100
75
84
50
25
0
2013
58
2014
•%
Total costs
(management + disposal)
105
95
85
75
65
55
2013
2014
Scuola Agraria del Parco di Monza
Thanks for your attention
Enzo Favoino
Scuola Agraria del Parco di Monza
335.355446
[email protected]