Swabs, gloves, surgical masks: we have learnt to recognise many of the sanitary objects related to the pandemic, and also got familiar with some of them. However, these also represent waste for disposal, which increased exponentially during the months of quarantine.

The document elaborated by Althesys, the WAS Report, told about waste management in this period in our country.

Among the consequences recorded, not only the increase in medical waste, but also the behaviour recommended to individual citizens, such as the disposal guidelines issued by the Istituto Superiore di Sanità, which treats the waste of people under quarantine in the same way: incinerating it in waste-to-energy plants and then treated as hazardous waste.

The lockdown also showed a decrease in industrial waste, a clear consequence of the closure of production activities, but also in special waste, so that the economic loss related to their treatment is reported around one billion euros, with a decrease between 4.2 and 4.8 million tons. The budget for the recycling sector is also tragic, with an increase in the amount of waste collected by sorting, in the face of a temporary stop to exports, which is fundamental for the disposal of such waste.

There is also a need for regulation of the costs of waste management during this extraordinary period. In this regard, ARERA, the Regulatory Authority for Energy Networks and Environment, responded, observing the increase in prices due to this difficult situation. The aim is to ensure that no sector (such as commerce or catering) can be penalized by this new management of the collection, transport and treatment of certain waste, especially in areas of the country without treatment facilities.