MSW management in a lacustrine area: circular economy criteria and effects of COVID-19 emergency by ARS ambiente Srl

MSW Management in a Lacustrine Area: Circular Economy Criteria and Effects of COVID-19 Emergency Anzhelika Karaeva

Fabio Conti

Department of Theoretical and Applied Sciences Insubria University Varese, Italy akaraeva@uninsubria.it

Department of Theoretical and Applied Sciences Insubria University Varese, Italy fabio.conti@uninsubria.it

Vincenzo Torretta

Giorgio Ghiringhelli

Department of Theoretical and Applied Sciences Insubria University Varese, Italy vincenzo.torretta@uninsubria.it

ARS Ambiente srl Varese, Italy ghiringhelli@arsambiente.it

Elena Romenovna Magaril

Department of Theoretical and Applied Sciences Insubria University Varese, Italy elena.rada@uninsubria.it

Elena Cristina Rada Department of Environmental Economics Ural Federal University Ekaterinburg, Russia magaril67@mail.ru Abstract— Lacustrine areas are often studied for their environmental relevance. In spite of that the literature has a limited number of articles on the management of municipal solid waste in such contexts. In this frame, the present work wants to contribute to the knowledge of that topic zooming on an area along the shore of Lake Maggiore, Italy. Data of sixteen municipalities were analysed to verify their performances and the consequence of COVID-19 emergency on waste management. Indicators as per-capita residual municipal solid waste production and selective collection efficiency demonstrate the positive management of waste in the area. The pandemic affected the behavior of the population as demonstrated by the variations of plastic packaging delivered to selective collection during the lockdowns. The abundant use of surgical masks during the pandemic did not affected significantly the stream of waste. However, solutions are needed to manage them according to the circular economy principles. Index Terms -- Circular Economy, COVID-19, Lake, Municipal Solid Waste, Recovery, Tariff.

INTRODUCTION

Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) management in lacustrine areas represents a topic that was not fully developed. Few papers are published on this topic [1]-[5]. Generally, the scientific research was conducted considering lake health (e.g.,

pollution from the agricultural point of view or from landfill leachate where its management is incorrect) and lake management (e.g., quality control and pollution prevention). Circular Economy (CE) was introduced in Europe, in order to close the loop of material fluxes to give to them a second life and to be in concordance with one of the EU concepts, “Living well, within the limits of our planet”, requested through the Decision No 1386/2013/EU [6] and in agreement with the research developed by Ellen MacArthur Foundation [7]. The last year the European Union (EU) has adopted a CE action plan for a cleaner and more competitive Europe [8]. MSW represents one of the main axes that must be managed in concordance with the CE requests [9], [10]: more actions must be made mainly for material and energy recovery but also new criteria for a green/renewable environmental sustainability must be found and applied. Considering the above requests/purposes, the present paper aims to add more knowledge to the lacustrine areas and MSW management connection, considering the CE concepts and environmental sustainability. In this frame, an area of the Italian Lake Maggiore was chosen for zooming on the MSW sector. The area, belonging to the Province of Varese and located along the shore of the lake (Figure 1), was subject to a variety of studies concerning not only directly or indirectly the environment but also the narrative literature thanks to its unique development between one Swiss

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and two Italian Regions [11]-[15]. The present work wants to give a specific contribution to the sector of waste management. Angera

Besozzo

Brezzo di Bedero

Brebbia

Castelveccan a

Germignaga

LavenoMombello

Leggiuno

Luino

Monvalle

Maccagno + Pino (e Veddasca)

Porto Valtravaglia

Ranco

Sesto Calende

Tronzano Lago Maggiore

Ispra

Figure 1. Details on the area of interest

II.

METHODOLOGY

As explained, in this paper the case of a lacustrine area, more in details the area along Lake Maggiore described in Figure 1, is proposed as case-study. In this lacustrine area there are 16 municipalities that cover about 250 km2 (38% mountainous; hilly areas, the rest). Selective Collection (SC) of MSW is made mainly for the following fractions: organic, paper and cardboard, plastic, glass, metals, wood, green and bulky waste. Two of the municipalities exploit energy recovery trough the combustion of the residual MSW (RMSW) that is the unsorted one; all of them adopt material recovery according to the principles of EU, transposed in Italy and adopted locally.

the ones requested by the Circular Economy Action Plan for Europe [16]. Additional performances will need due to the fact that the non-recyclable part of MSW is lower than 35%, depending also on the kind of products that we buy in each context. In order to understand the relevance of the results obtained by the local municipalities and the company that manages selective collection, it must be taken into account that: x

three decades ago, SC efficiency in Italy was at only few percentage points;

in tourist areas like the one around Lake Maggiore, high SC percentages are more difficult to implement because of the unsteady presence in the area of nonresident people not used to the local criteria of source separation (that can affect the correct separation of the streams of materials in MSW).

In Italy, in some cases the smallest municipalities get the highest results in terms of SC percentage because of a limited verticality of the buildings that makes easier the management of waste bins with a curbside collection [17]; however, this is not the case of the studied area as in Figure 2 no relationship between dimensions of the municipality and SC percentage can be observed. Of course, the way of collection must be controlled in terms of quality of source separated materials. This is because if no control is performed, the risk of involuntary or voluntary mistakes grows. In Italy, the convenience of a high-quality source separation comes from the value that is given to the streams of selectively collected materials. If impurities are high, the income is low, affecting the tariff to be applied the users. In Figure 3 some data related to this aspect can be seen. Data on tariff applied at municipality level for MSW management and data on SC efficiency are reported. Eleven municipalities apply tariffs below 270 Euro/t; out of them, only two have a low SC efficiency. For a comparison with other contexts, it must be pointed out that the way of calculating SC percentages can change from country to country, but also from region to region, as locally a double way of calculation could be adopted: the national one and the local one [17], [18]. The regulation for the assessment of the SC percentage in the Lombardy Region is homogeneous with the National Guidelines 26.5.2016 since 2017 and includes also the bulky waste when sent to recovery options.

The significant amount of data available from the bodies involved in MSW management opens to a variety of analyses, suitable for understanding the characteristics of the area. III.

RESULTS

In Figure 2 data of 2019 regarding the connection between SC, inhabitants, household users and the tariff for the management of a ton of produced MSW are reported. The year 2019 is the last one not affected by the pandemic. This Figure demonstrates that the national and EU requests for SC are complied with. In particular, in Italy the Legislative Decree 152/2006 and the Law 296/2006 set a target of 65% of SC. All the Municipality of the area comply with this target and near

Figure 2. Performances of SC in 2019 in the studied municipalities along the Lake Maggiore shore (belonging to the province of Varese).

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Figure 3. Tariff applied and SC percentage in the studied municipalities

This double counting can be done for practical verifications. In the area of the study the presented values concern a method of calculation where bulky waste and waste assimilable to MSW are included as streams that contribute to SC. The percentage of SC is not the only parameter to be considered to have a complete vision of the virtuosity of an area. The per-capita generation is important too, because it can demonstrate also the effects of strategies to reduce the generation of MSW. Compared to the typical values of the last decades in Italy, the per-capita generation of RMSW in a few municipalities in this area results very limited, as reported in Figure 4. In many parts of Italy, a target of per-capita generation of RMSW around 100 kg inh-1 y-1 is considered coherent with a virtuous management. The area of the case study shows most of the percapita data below this threshold not depending on the number of inhabitants. It must be pointed out that the tourist areas show generally values higher than the residential areas because of the contribution of the presence of tourists in generating additional waste. The COVID-19 emergency strongly affected the national and international tourism [19]-[22], thus also the one of the area of the present case study. Indeed, in Italy during the year 2020 some restrictions to mobility concerned for a long time the crossing of the borders of regions and also the freedom to leave home with the exception of cases of extreme necessity. Of course, tourism was not considered a necessity with the consequence to paralyze or limit the activities of this sector. Effects on the sector of MSW were controversial: it is a common idea in the sector that during the first months of pandemic the resident inhabitants reduced the delivery of RMSW because of a contraction of consumptions or an accumulation at home of some kinds of waste (e.g. bulky waste). Figure 5 reports data on yearly basis demonstrating that in most of the area, the initial phenomenon was counterbalanced in the following months. However, zooming on the single months, the dynamics is reported in Figures 6, 7, 8 and 9.

Figure 4. Per capita RMSW in the area vs inhabitants of the municipalities

2020 vs 2019 30%

0% Angera

Ispra

Leggiuno

Monvalle

Ranco

Sesto Calende

-30% RMSW 2020/2019

SC MSW 2020/2019

Figure 5. Variations (%) of RMSW generation and SC in some municipalities (2020 vs 2019)

The first Italian lockdown of March and April 2020 was a novelty for the families; as reaction to the unclear perspective of the economy, a contraction of purchases was pointed out from the specialized literature that also affected the MSW generation [23]-[27]. In Figure 6, that can be seen from the comparison between the months of 2019 and 2020. In March 2020 there is a clear drop down in the delivery of plastic (packaging) compared to the same month of 2019. The same reaction can be seen in Figure 7, showing data for the second lockdown, when in October 2020 a new, unexpected growth of the pandemic curve developed: again, the consumption of goods decreased causing a decrease of delivery of plastic packaging into the SC system. Figures 8 and 9 show a different behavior concerning the generation of food waste (biodegradable waste in the Figures). Indeed, data shown in the two figures point out a nonhomogeneous reaction of the population of the area against the lockdown and the related worrying. A significant increase of food waste would have to be expected as the Italian population increased its weight at individual level [23]-[27].

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Data related to biodegradable waste do not show a clear trend, thus the change in weight of the population can be explained by the reduced mobility for lockdown restrictions, not by an increase of food consumption.

Plastic 30% 20% 10%

An ge r Be a so zz o Br ez Bre zo b di bi a Ca Be d st el ero ve c Ge ca rm na ign ag La a ve no Is p -M r a om be Le llo gg iu no L u M i n ac M ca on o g v Po no + alle rto P Va i no (e ltr av … ag lia Se R sto a nc o Tr Ca l on en za de no La go …

0% -10% -20% -30% Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Figure 6. 2020 vs 2019: first lockdown comparison at monthly level for plastic packaging delivery to SC Plastic 30% 20% 10%

de La go

ag gi o

le n

Ra n

Se st o

an o

sc a)

va gl ia

dd a

Va l rto

-30%

Tr o

ac ca gn o

-20%

-10%

tra

Lu in o on va lle

An ge ra Be so zz o Br Br eb ez bi zo a di Be de Ca ro st el ve cc an Ge a rm ig na ga La ve Isp no ra -M om be llo Le gg iu no

00%

Set

Oct

Nov

Dec

Figure 7. 2020 vs 2019: second lockdown comparison at monthly level for plastic packaging delivery to SC

Another issue related to pandemic and MSW concerns the impact that surgical masks have on MSW management. To this concern, it must be pointed out that a mask weights only 3 g; thus an average consumption of 1 mask per person per day slightly affects the MSW production: the increase is lower than 1%. In normal conditions these masks are delivered in the RMSW stream. The challenge, today, is to organize a SC of used non-infected masks in order to favor the recovery of the used polymers. A few research projects are presently in progress also oriented to strategies to be applied in case od future pandemics (e.g. REMASK, [28]). Finally, a general question can be put in relation to the potential criticalities of waste management in tourist areas like the one analysed: the worrying in these cases is related to the different approach that a tourist could have in the region of origin in terms of SC criteria (with consequent effects on source separation). In the area of the study, 11 out of 16 municipalities gave results of SC in 2019 higher than the average value at provincial level [29], demonstrating that the local organization faced adequately with this problem thanks also to the curbside collection system that directly empower the users. IV.

Biodegradable Waste 30% 20% 10%

An ge r Be a so zz o Br ez Bre bb zo ia di Ca Bed st el ero ve c Ge can a rm ign ag La a ve no I -M spr om a be l Le lo gg iu no Lu M in o M ac o ca gn nva l le Po o + rto Pi V a no lt r (e… av ag li a Tr on Ra Se za nc st o no o La Cale go nd M e ag gi or e

0% -10% -20% -30%

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Figure 8. 2020 vs 2019: first lockdown comparison at monthly level for food waste delivery to SC

CONCLUSIONS

The area of the case study is characterized by the presence of a famous lake, relevant for national and international tourism. In spite of the risk to have an alteration of the performances of SC because of tourism, data related to the 16 municipalities belonging to the province of Varese demonstrate that the efficiency of the system is high. The per capita generation of RMSW in the area is significantly low. The applied tariffs underline the importance of reaching high efficiency of SC in order to optimize the sector. The emergency of COVID-19 modified the scenario affecting the behavior of citizens in terms of purchases and consequent waste generation. The wide adoption of surgical masks did not impact significantly the amount of waste streams to be managed.

Biodegradable waste

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

30%

The authors gratefully acknowledge Mrs Silvia Colombo of ARS Ambiente for her contribution in making data available for the present paper.

20% 10%

-30% Set

Oct

Nov

Lu in o

M on va gn ll o Po +P e rto in o Va l t r ( e… av ag l ia Tr Ra Se on nc st za o o no Ca La l go en d e M ag gi or e

-20%

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M ac ca

An ge ra Be so zz o Br Br ez eb zo bi a di Be Ca de st r o el ve c Ge can a rm ign ag a La ve Is no -M pr a om be llo Le gg iu no

0% -10%

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Figure 9. 2020 vs 2019: second lockdown comparison at monthly level for food waste delivery to SC

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