THE STORY OF CONTARINA CASE STUDY #4 The public company Contarina serves the area of Treviso in Northern and is EU’s top performing in waste prevention and recycling in a wide area. What is their secret to recycle twice the EU average and generate five times less residual waste?

Case study 1 THE INGREDIENTS FOR SUCCESS

Veneto is one of Italy’s 20 regions. waste for burning but with the pres- The region, of just under 5 million sure from the market to increase inhabitants, beats the rest of the recycling Contarina has continued to country with it’s 65% recycling rate. increase recycling rates when others Within the region of the pub- have plateaued because of put-or- lic company Contarina is responsi- pay contracts to feed incinerators. ble for the management of waste in most of the , The second crucial ingredient including the capital Treviso. Here has been good political will and they serve 554 000 inhabitants in cross-party consensus over the last 50 municipalities and has reached decade. This is a remarkable point levels of source separation of up to because among the 50 municipal- 85% and generates only 53kg of re- ities there have been mayors from sidual waste per inhabitant and year. different political parties ranging In contrast, the EU average level is a from left to right, yet they have man- 42% source separation and a 285 kg aged to reach a consensus on waste per inhabitant and year of residual management which shows that Zero waste generation. Waste is above all about common sense and good management lead- It’s not only these impressive rates ing to increased operational efficien- that make Contarina a zero waste cy and monetary savings. champion, but its commitment to continuously improve its perfor- Thirdly the operational management mance and advance towards zero has been extremely well-performing; waste. It has its mind set on the goal a team of professionals has worked of recycling 96,7% of its waste by to keep advancing in the right direc- 2022 and reduce the residual frac- tion and never stopped optimising tion to 10 kg per inhabitant and year. the system even when entering do- A proper commitment indeed!. mains where no other district of this size has been before. If Contarina has managed to con- stantly increase its recycling rates Last but definitely not least, any good year after year is thanks to the de- project needs to count with good cision taken by the Province (the support and counseling and Contari- planning unit in Italy) back in 2005 to na, has counted with the support of keep incineration out of the system, experts who are involved in the Zero which has proven to be a pre-con- Waste network, which has helped dition for maximizing recovery of move things in any crucial moment. value. Without the obligation to send

»» 100% Public Company »» Serves 50 municipalities - 645 em- ployees

Case study 2 THE STORY BEHIND THE PUBLIC COMPANY

Contarina is a public company owned plants that handle non- recyclable by the Priula Consortium (Consorzio dry waste and Organic and Green Intercomunale Priula) and the Trev- waste. Currently, Contarina is real- isoTre (TvTre) Consortium which to- izing two new plants for the devel- gether represent 50 municipalities. opment of recyclable waste and the Contarina started in 1989 as a half- recycling of absorbent products for private half-public enterprise provid- personal care. ing services to 5 municipalities in the Priula Consortium and little by little it Municipal services including waste expanded to provide services of col- collection and handling but also lection, treatment, management and street sweeping, special and hazard- communication for more municipali- ous waste collection and cemetery ties. In 2006 TvTre Consortium enters management, are also handled by in Contarina enlarging the number of Contarina. municipalities and acquiring 40% of the shares of Contarina which effec- The success of Contarina is the re- tively becomes 100% public. sult of a combination of several fac- tors: The company’s daily objectives are to increase the percentage of sepa- »» Great source separation at source, rate collection, to reduce the amount »» Waste reduction incentives of waste produced (in particular »» through pay-as-you-throw sys- the percentage of non- recyclable tem, waste), to raise the quality of the »» Transparency and efficiency, collected recyclable material, and »» Political will and commitment to to improve the service offered, op- »» continuously improving the sys- timising the cost-benefit ratio. The tem company also manages processing

»» Integrated waste management system

Case study 3 EFFICIENT SEPARATE COLLECTION AT SOURCE

In order to achieve the exception- tres equipped with large containers »» PAYT fee al separate collection rates of 85% for other types of urban waste: from the system needs to be extremely aggregates to bulk, from electrical efficient. This can only be achieved and electronic appliances to hazard- with the use of intensive and adapt- ous waste. ed curbside collection combined with pay-as-you-throw system. “Pay-as-you-throw”: the less waste you generate the less money you pay Municipal solid waste is collected in five or six major waste-streams: Another fundamental principle of the non-recyclable dry, organics (food “Contarina Model” is that the cost of scraps), garden waste, paper and the service to the user (family, com- cardboard, glass, plastic and tin. In pany, corporation or other entity) is some Municipalities glass is collect- proportional to the amount of waste ed alongside plastic and tins. They produced. This provides an incentive are placed in special colour-coded to do the right thing and minimize bins that are readily available, free of waste generation as well as promote charge and collected curbside. The home composting. collection of different waste streams takes place in different days of the More concretely this boils down to week; the fraction collected most splitting the fee for waste generation often is the most important one, i.e. into two parts; one fixed and another food-waste, the one collected less one variable. The fixed part depends often is the residual waste, which is on the number of members living also the less important one in vol- in the household whereas the vari- ume. Paper, green able portion is calculated according waste and other recyclables are col- to two variables. One penalizes the lected between once and three times number of times the non-recyclable per week. dry waste bin is emptied. The other one is a bonus for those households Curbside collection is supplemented doing home-composting which see a by the EcoCentri (Eco-Centres): cen- reduction of 30% on the variable fee.

»» Curbside collection »» Types of bins

Case study 4 CREATING JOBS AND SAVING COSTS WITH ZW STRATEGY

More concretely this boils down to unemployed and those who are inel- TRANSPARENCY – A KEY splitting the fee for waste generation igible for assistance. This integrated ISSUE FOR CONTINUOUS into two parts; one fixed and another management system generates pos- IMPROVEMENT OF THE one variable. The fixed part depends itive effects that go beyond simple SYSTEM on the number of members living waste collection: the system extends in the household whereas the vari- to the environment, the economy and It is important that citizens and able portion is calculated according into people’s lives. other stake-holders have a clear to two variables. One penalizes the picture of how the system works number of times the non-recyclable The percentage of separate waste in order to allow the incentives to dry waste bin is emptied. The other collection in 2013 in the municipali- do its work in facilitating doing one is a bonus for those households ties managed by Contarina reached the right thing. For the operator doing home-composting which see a almost 85%, with peaks in some mu- it is also key to manage the data reduction of 30% on the variable fee. nicipalities around 90%, and ranks in a smart way in order to see far above the national average (cur- where there is room for improv- The UN Environmental Program lists rently around 42%) and the regional ing and optimising the system. the so-called “Green Jobs” among one for Veneto (Veneto, population 5 those with the greatest growth po- million, is currently around 65%, the This data system consists of a tential in the near future. Employees highest regional average in Italy). single database where each us- of Contarina have “green jobs” and er’s data can be viewed together have contributed to the development Even the production of non- recy- with their geographical position, of the company which has seen the clable dry waste (kg*inhabitant/ the bins provided, the recorded number of its employees grow, thus year) has reached optimum lev- number of collections and the confirming the world growth fore- els. On average, each inhabitant applicable rates. This unique casts of the sector also at the local of the municipalities managed database also allows users, level. In 2014, for the city of Treviso, by Contarina produces 53 kg of through the Internet, to view in- Contarina’s operational costs were waste per year. More separation, formation associated with their contained during which time they and therefore, less production of consumption and to report any also created 26 new job positions. non-recyclable dry waste helps discrepancies. contain the costs that are on av- The company also aims to offer new erage about €178 per household services to the territory with partic- and year in Priula. ular attention on the social impli- cations of its activities. For many of When comparing with the costs the services provided (e.g. cleaning, of rest of Italy one can see how managing the EcoCentri, maintaining good management and recycling public parks, etc.), the company part- more it also saves money to ners with social cooperatives who the taxpayers. Over the last 15 work in employing disadvantaged years waste management costs people. in Contarina have increased only 8% whereas at national level Contarina’s commitment in this field these costs have grown 70%, continues through the implementa- and the general cost index has tion of social projects that promote grown around 30%. the reintegration of the long-term

Case study 5 FROM BURNING RESIDUALS TO ZERO WASTE

During the last decade Contarina results in only 24kg per inhabitant has used a mechanical biological and year of the total waste produced treatment (MBT) plant to treat the being stabilized and sent to landfill. residual waste. The outputs of the MBT process were to turn 33% of the Additionally, contrary to incineration residual waste into Refuse Derived or landfill, this system makes waste Fuel which was subsequently burnt very visible to allow for researchers for energy recovery and to send and designers to study what cannot the remaining part of low- calorific be recycled in order to design waste waste to landfilling. However with out of the system. the adoption of zero waste principles it sought a better and higher use for On top of recovering more materi- these materials. als from residual waste this system works with cold treatments and is In 2015 Contarina is set to start the a lot more cost-efficient and safer operation of a Material Recovery and from public health perspective than Biological Treatment (MRBT) plant any kind of incineration. Also the which is remarkably more efficient capital investment for the machin- in recovering further materials also ery necessary to run this alterna- from residual waste for recycling op- tive process is many times cheaper erations. than incineration (around 4-5 times cheaper at a same capacity). But the With the new system to manage re- most important angle, is the adapt- sidual waste it is possible to reduce ability of such a way of processing the final residues that need to be dis- residuals, since it is capable to man- posed of to only 46,5% of the total re- age progressively more separately sidual waste. Since 85% of the waste collected materials (organics, paper, is source separated, 15% amounting plastics, etc.) and less residuals, to 53 kg per inhabitant and year is thereby keeping cross-consistency processed and only 46,5% of this with strategies to maximize separate 15% or 53 kg is disposed of. This collection and waste reduction.

»» Residual waste treatment (present and future develop- ments)

Case study 6 FUTURE ZERO WASTE OBJECTIVES

Contarina has achieved outstanding »» increase participation in house- »» Future goals results already but far from being hold composting by 80% compared towards Zero Waste complacent it seeks to go further and to the (by 2022) further in what personifies the zero »» current percentage (up to 40% of waste spirit; never giving up on the participation); efforts to reduce waste. »» continue optimising activities to allow for energy and fossil fuel sav- The mayors of the municipalities ings; within the public company are com- »» support public or private ini- mitted to accelerate the path to- tiatives to set up separate waste wards the goal of ‘’Zero Waste’’. In collection centers and raise aware- order to do so they have set up the ness about waste reduction, reuse following objectives by 2022: and recycling, as well as increasing number of specialised centres which »» reduce the current total amount of intercept usable objects before they waste generated, aiming for 280 kg become waste; per inhabitant and year (average EU »» promote “Zero Kilometer” policy in 2012 was 492kg); for local food to improve consump- »» reduce the current amount of re- tion of proximity products which sidual waste, aiming for 10 kg per generate less food and packaging inhabitant and year (average EU in waste; 2012 was 285kg); »» establish the “Zero Waste Ob- »» reach separate waste collection of servatory” with the aim of constant 96.7%; monitoring the residual fraction in »» reduce the current bulk waste by order to be able to redesign it. 80%, aiming for 2 kg per inhabitant and year;

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Sources GHK, Gipuzkoako Hondakinen Kontsortzioa Ibaiondo Industrialdea 27-3, 20120 Hernani Gipuzkoa; www.ghk.eus Case study 7 Zero Waste Europe was created to empower communities to rethink their relationship with the resources.

In a growing number of regions, local groups of individuals, businesses and city officials are taking significant steps towards eliminating waste in our society.

Case study by Joan Marc Simon Visual design by Petra Jääskeläinen

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Zero Waste Europe gratefully acknowledges financial assistance from the European Union. The sole responsibility for the content of this event mate- rials lies with Zero Waste Europe. It does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the funder mentioned above. The funder cannot be held responsible for any use that may be made of the information contained therein. Case study 8