Contarina is the publicly owned waste management company responsible for waste management in the province of Treviso, where about 550 000 inhabitants live. Separate collection of waste reached about 85 % and residual waste generated is only 53 kg per inhabitant and year. In contrast, the EU average level is about 40 % separate waste collection and 285 kg of residual waste per inhabitant and year.
The high level of separate waste collection could be achieved with the introduction of an intensive and adapted kerbside collection combined with a pay-as-you-throw system. Municipal solid waste is collected in five or six major waste streams: unrecyclable dry, organics (food scraps), garden waste, paper and cardboard, glass, plastic and tin (in some municipalities glass is collected alongside plastic and tins) (Zero Waste Europe, 2013).
Figure 1. Types of bins for kerbside collection in Treviso (Zero Waste Europe)
The collection of different waste streams takes place on different days of the week; the fraction collected the most often (twice a week) is food waste, and the one collected the least often is residual waste, which is also the least important one in terms of volume. Paper, green waste and other recyclables are collected between once and three times per week.
Kerbside collection is supplemented by the EcoCentri (civic amenity sites) which are equipped with large containers for other types of urban waste: from aggregates to bulky waste, from electrical and electronic appliances to hazardous waste (Zero Waste Europe, 2013).