Waste management and legislation
Up to the Seventies, Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) was collected without any separation, and it was disposed prevalently in non-controlled dumps. As an alternative to the direct disposal of waste in the ground, thermal treatment or incineration was used. In Italy, the concept of recycling and recovery of materials through separate waste collection began only in the 90s. In this period also laws regulating waste disposal in the dumps were issued. In Italy a legislative measure, which was very important from the point of view of waste disposal, was Legislative Decree n. 22 dated 1997, better known as the “Ronchi Decree”, from the name of the Minister who signed the law. The more important aspect of this decree is that it represented a change in the legislation regarding all the regulations on waste. Practically, the philosophy of the decree is based on the belief that pollution produced by waste must be coped with by decreasing the total amount of waste produced, and not only by the simple disposal of waste in the dumps. At present, the Ronchi Decree has been superseded and cancelled by Legislative Decree n. 152 dated 2006, subsequently followed by Legislative Decree n. 205, dated 3 December 2010 – in force from 25 December 2010 – implementing European Directive 2008/98/EC on waste in the Italian legislation.
Special reports
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13 May 2018
Small steps, great footprints
Have you ever wondered how much space is taken up by an apple or a steak?...
15 April 2014
How rich are we …. in blue gold?
Water footprint, water availability and use on a planetary scale...
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30 April 2022
Solar energy in Italy: where do we stand?
The Sun is the main source of energy on our planet, from which we derive almost all the forms of…
5 September 2021
Faraday, an electrifying biography
"The important thing is to know how to take all things quietly". Michael Faraday...
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14 July 2021
Italy’s renewable sources
Renewable energy sources in Italy The Energy Services Operator (GSE) periodically publishes data and statistics on the renewable energy sources…
18 February 2021
Is lithium the new petroleum?
Today petroleum vies for the title of “contemporary gold” with several competitors, one of those is certainly lithium...
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13 May 2018
Small steps, great footprints
Have you ever wondered how much space is taken up by an apple or a steak?...
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15 April 2014
How rich are we …. in blue gold?
Water footprint, water availability and use on a planetary scale...
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30 April 2022
Solar energy in Italy: where do we stand?
The Sun is the main source of energy on our planet, from which we derive almost all the forms of…
5 September 2021
Faraday, an electrifying biography
"The important thing is to know how to take all things quietly". Michael Faraday...
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13 May 2018
Small steps, great footprints
Have you ever wondered how much space is taken up by an apple or a steak?...
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15 April 2014
How rich are we …. in blue gold?
Water footprint, water availability and use on a planetary scale...
From the Multimedia section
Facts
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Bio-climatic architecture
Solar energy is playing a vital role with reference to bioclimatic architecture...
The photovoltaic train
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A hydrogen house
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Hydrogen from biomass
Hydrogen is an energy carrier that allows to generate energy in an environmentally sustainable way...
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The melting of the ice cells, not only brings about the release of methane gas, but it also produces another…
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Every day the Earth receives enough solar energy to satisfy the global energy need. Unfortunately we cannot exploit all this…
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16 May 2011
Bio-climatic architecture
Solar energy is playing a vital role with reference to bioclimatic architecture...
The photovoltaic train
In Italy the PVTRAIN project by Trenitalia (co-financed by the European Union) plans...
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The plant of Almeria
In the Tabernas desert, 30 km north-east of the Andalusia town of Almeria (Spain)...
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16 May 2011
A hydrogen house
In Settimo, a municipality close to Turin, the first Unité d’Abitation has been created...
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Bio-climatic architecture
Solar energy is playing a vital role with reference to bioclimatic architecture...
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The photovoltaic train
In Italy the PVTRAIN project by Trenitalia (co-financed by the European Union) plans...
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The plant of Almeria
In the Tabernas desert, 30 km north-east of the Andalusia town of Almeria (Spain)...