Circular Economy in Italy
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CIRCULAR ECONOMY IN ITALY Commissioned by the Netherlands Enterprise Agency Coosorzio ltalbiotec CIRCULAR ECONOMV IN ITALV. Market analysis and business opportunities for dutch innovative companies: clean & safe water and water resource recovery December 2020 COLOPHON The study is a market analysis owned by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Consulate General of the Netherlands in Italy and the Netherlands Enterprise Agency. © Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Consulate-General of the Netherlands in Italy, the Netherlands Enterprise Agency, December 2020 Authors Re Ilaria, Daniotti Sara, Ferrini Martina, Gatto Fabiana Consorzio Italbiotec, via Gaudenzio Fantoli, 16/15, 20138 Milan, Italy www.italbiotec.it | [email protected] Contact information Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Rome Email [email protected] Consulate- General of the Netherlands, Milan Email [email protected] How to cite the study Re I., Daniotti S., Ferrini M., Gatto F., Circular Economy in Italy. Market analysis and business opportunities for Dutch innovative companies: Clean & Safe water and water resource recoveryr, Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Consulate-General of the Netherlands in Italy, the Netherlands Enterprise Agency, Rome December 2020 TABLE OF CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY .................................................................................................................................... 5 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................................. 9 PART I - LEGISLATION AND DECISION-MAKING POLICIES IN WATER MANAGEMENT .......................................... 15 CLEAN AND SAFE WATERTECHNOLOGY: ENVIRONMENT AND WATER DIRECTIVES .............................................15 REGIONAL WATER PROTECTION PLANS ......................................................................................................17 BIOECONOMY AND RESOURCE RECOVERY: THE SEWAGE SLUDGE DIRECTIVE ..................................................19 PART II - WATER TREATMENT TECHNOLOGY LANDSCAPE ................................................................................. 23 CLEAN AND SAFE WATER TECHNOLOGY FOR DOMESTIC CONSUMPTION AND AGRICULTURE ..............................24 INDUSTRIAL BEST PRACTICES IN WATER REUSE AND WATER SAVINGS ...........................................................25 REGIONAL INITIATIVES FOR WATER SAVINGS AND WASTEWATER REUSE ........................................................26 BIOECONOMY AND WATER RESOURCE RECOVERY ......................................................................................27 REGIONAL INITIATIVES FOR DERIVING BENEFITS FROM SEWAGE SLUDGE ......................................................28 BIOENERGY PRODUCTION FROM SEWAGE SLUDGE RECOVERY .....................................................................29 PART III - WATER MANAGEMENT SYSTEM: COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE ............................................................... 31 FACTORS DRIVING THE DEVELOPMENT OF AN INTEGRATED WATER SYSTEM ...................................................31 INDUSTRIAL OPERATORS: BREAKDOWN BY SECTOR ....................................................................................36 ECONOMIC PERFORMANCE OF INDUSTRIAL OPERATORS .............................................................................37 EBITDA PERFORMANCE AND EMPLOYMENT BY SECTOR ...............................................................................39 KEY PLAYERS IN THE INTEGRATED WATER MANAGEMENT SYSTEM ................................................................40 INVESTMENT TREND IN WATER QUALITY AND SUPPLY EFFICIENCY ................................................................43 PART IV - BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES FOR INNOVATIVE DUTCH COMPANIES ..................................................... 49 CLEAN AND SAFE WATER TECHNOLOGY ....................................................................................................49 BIOECONOMY AND WATER RESOURCE RECOVERY ......................................................................................51 RESEARCH AND INNOVATION PERSPECTIVES FOR ITALO-DUTCH COMPANIES ...................................................52 KEY STAKEHOLDERS and POLICYMAKERS OF The WATER SECTOR .................................................................53 KEY PLATFORMS FOR BUSINESS TO BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES ..................................................................55 CONCLUSIONS ......................................................................................................................................56 TABLE OF FIGURES ...................................................................................................................................... 59 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS .............................................................................................................................. 61 GLOSSARY .................................................................................................................................................. 63 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY .......................................................................................................................... 67 APPENDICES ............................................................................................................................................... 71 Appendix 1 - ATOs’ regional distribution, number of municipalities and population served .................................71 Appendix 2 - Regional Water Protection Plans: essentials .............................................................................73 Appendix 3 - Leading regional specifications on sludge treatment and reuse ...................................................77 Appendix 4 - Geographical breakdown of companies by sector ....................................................................79 Appendix 5 - Top 20 companies in the water supply sector divided by business model .....................................80 Appendix 6 - Top players: company profiles ...............................................................................................81 Appendix 7 - List of addresses of top players by sector ................................................................................92 BIBLIOGRAPHY ........................................................................................................................................... 99 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The world population growth and the consequent impacts on human and the environment health demand a fast-moving transition towards a low-emission and zero-waste economy. Clean and sustainable use of water is one of the leading priorities for a sustainable society called upon to counteract water depletion, pressures on the ecosystem due to urbanisation processes and new emerging pollutants. Therefore, new business and consumption models based on a circular approach to optimising resources stimulate increasing investments in green technologies to face climate change challenges. In this context, the market study on the Circular Economy in Italy provides a complete framework of the Italian water supply landscape with a focus on clean and safe technology as well as water resource recovery. The ultimate scope of this study is to provide a concrete insight in how innovative Dutch companies operate in these sectors in terms of business opportunities, favourable legislative conditions, relevant stakeholders and leading players to further improve the Dutch presence in the market and Dutch-Italian collaborations. The Introduction provides an overall picture of the water consumption for civil, industrial and agriculture services and the water supply in Italy, key actors and policy authorities of the integrated management system. • The total water consumption in 2015 was approximately 21.6 billion m3, including for civil and industrial use. Agricultural practices dominate the water demand covering 59% of the total volume of withdrawals, followed by water for households accounting 22% - placing Italy first in Europe for freshwater consumption. • Request for drinking water is growing over decades to extent that from 1999 to 2015 it increased by 6.9%, and according to more recent data, withdrawals in 2019 were of 9.2 billion m3 equal to 419 litres per day per inhabitant. • Water losses are one of the significant problems in the Italian water system, which means that 37.3% is not received by the end-users, with greater severity (45%) in the South and islands. The governance of water resources in Italy is characterised by a very complex multi-level model with substantial differences between regions. It takes on diversified forms, with a predominant role of the regions and the local authorities responsible for awardingthe service and handlin- gthef water basin model. 5 • In Italy, there are 91 regional authorities responsible for water supply and sanitation services in Italy (AATOs, from its Italian initials or “Autorità di Ambito Territoriale Ottimale”), in charge of rmanaging economic and environmental resources at the local level under the governance of the municipalities for the reference area. • The AATOs entrust the integrated water service to public or private operators through an agreement, based on various contract schemes. The most widespread form is the in-house model which reconciles in a new Incorporating Company entrepreneurial entities and municipalities. The first part