International Journal of Waste Resources

PAYT (Pay-As-You-Throw) schemes - a key step for a circular economy and citizens involvement

4^th World Congress and Expo on Recycling

July 27-29, 2017 | Rome, Italy

Roberto Cavallo

ERICA Soc. Coop., Italy

Keynote: Int J Waste Resour

Abstract:

Waste prevention, prepare for reuse and recycling are the three steps of European hierarchy of sustainable management of waste following European Directive 98/2008. Numerous local initiative demonstrate that the best performing results are obtained when different level of responsibility work together. The common interest is to reduce the final disposal of unsorted urban waste, increasing quota of valuable waste and this is possible when the economical and financial streams are transparent and there is a direct influence of behaviour on tax. Different kinds of instruments are being developed during last year in order to calculate the quantity of urban (domestic and commercial) waste produced by the citizens. Best results are obtained through volume measure, using both bins and flexible bags. In village, ore scattered area bags with bar code or other system of direct recognition could be best option in cost/benefit; in urban area, with important density population and commercial waste, RFID technology seems to be best. The most frequent experiences in Italy and Europe are based on the volume of unsorted waste following the principle that more citizens use public services of collection and then pay. Recent experiences are also computing biowaste and packaging collection. PAYT schemes improve selective collection efficiency (i.e. low frequency, correct volume) reaching high percentage of selective collection, above 80%, with an excellent quality of materials collected (impurity less than 5%). PAYT introduce a high level of consciousness of citizens who change the buying behaviour, choosing product with less packaging, reusable, easy to separate, at the same time the shop improve their ecological offer. So PAYT scheme is the best opportunity to create a relationship of mutual responsibility between the different actors of the municipal waste management.

Biography :

Roberto Cavallo is a Doctor in Agronomic Sciences at Turin University. He was a Lecturer of Enological Microbiology at Turin University from 1994 to 1997. From 1997 to 1999, he was a Town Councillor of Alba for Environment, Civil Protection and Agriculture. He is a Founder and CEO of ERICA, an Italian society specialized in environmental consultancy and communication. Since 2002, he was appointed President of AICA (International Association for Environmental Communication). In June 2003, he joined the Board of Directors of ACR+ (Association Cities and Regions Suistainable Resource Management). He has authored more than 100 publications. He has also authored and anchored for television programs, on National Italian TV, on environmental issues. He was elected as Vice-president of Italian Committee for implementation of National Waste Prevention Plan by Environment Minister.

Email: roberto.cavallo@cooperica.it