Tampons, gloves, surgical masks: we have learned to know many of the sanitary objects related to the pandemic, with some also familiarize ourselves 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 its 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.

It is therefore also necessary to regulate the costs of waste management during this extraordinary period. In this regard, ARERA, which is observing the increase in prices due to this difficult situation, replied that no sector (such as commerce or catering) can be considered penalized by this new management of the collection, transport and treatment of certain waste, especially in area of the country without treatment plants.