Planning the Integrated Management of Organic Waste Flows and Agricultural Residues for a Circular Economy

In the recent years, the production, management and disposal of both organic waste and agricultural residues has become significantly difficult in Italy, due to the lack of suitable facilities. Very often, indeed, within the different regions, there are no treatment plants for the organic fraction of municipal solid waste or agricultural residues treatment centres, so as to give them a second life in the perspective of a circular economy. The lack of proximity treatment centres, forces local administrations to send these flows to plants outside their territorial area, with a consequent increase for transport and treatment costs. This paper, with reference to the study area of the Matera municipality (Basilicata region - Southern Italy), taking into consideration the organic waste flows of non-domestic users from separate collection and agricultural residues - especially those coming from the wine production chain - provides a state-of-the-art analysis of the problems related to their collection, management and disposal. Subsequently, an alternative model feasibility study - called "proximity composting", aimed at a more sustainable management of these flows based on their “zero-kilometers treatment” – has been implemented. The results obtained have demonstrated that the proposed scenario is much more sustainable when compared to the current situation, both from an economic and environmental point of view. Indeed, thanks to the use of calculation tools, the economic (€/year) and environmental (Kg CO2 avoided/year) advantages, due to the save of transport and disposal of flows outside the region, have been quantified, with consequent reduction of waste tax for citizens (€/year). In addition, the implementation of maps using a Geographical Information System (GIS) has demonstrated a better optimization of the system. Finally, it was highlighted the social utility of the proposed model, because citizens become an active part in the process and self-produce soil fertilisers.