Italy takes a small step forward in the midst of a crisis which, among other things, affects the recycling of plastics: the Chamber has finally been assigned the examination, in the referring body, of the bill for the establishment of a security deposit system for disposable beverage containers and delegation to the Government for the regulation of the recovery chain.
What does it mean? That we are entering the phase of discussion, changes and political confrontation and that the time is probably ripe for a serious and constructive discussion to implement a security deposit system (deposit return systems – DRS) and attempt to achieve the 90% objective by 2029. A system which, in essence, will serve to ensure that almost all containers are returned instead of ending up in the wrong bins, in the environment or in the sea.
Today, a third of the bottles escape the separate waste collection circuits, making our country one of the major causes of plastic spills into the sea, explains Silvia Roggiani, who presented the text with Eleonora Evi in December.
What is DRS
For Silvia Ricci, coordinator of the campaign Good luckthe security deposit is today “the only mechanism that has proven to be able to recover up to 98% of plastic bottles and other beverage containers put into circulation”.
The principle is very simple: at the time of purchase you pay a small extra sum, which is returned when you return the empty container. In this way the bottles return to the system clean, separated from other waste and immediately ready to be recycled. An ideal condition for “bottle to bottle” recycling, i.e. direct transformation into new bottles also suitable for contact with food.
It is a huge difference compared to what happens today, where PET bottles end up mixed with other packaging, become contaminated, increase waste and increase management costs for Municipalities.
Where the DRS is already active, the results are evident: the quality of the recovered material grows and the recycling market becomes more stable and reliable. In Austria, for example, despite an overall plastic recycling rate lower than the Italian one, bottle collection has already risen by ten percentage points, reaching 80%. In Romania, in just two years, the figure has reached 90%.
Numbers that speak clearly and confirm the effectiveness of a model applicable to all beverage containers: plastic, glass and metal. A simple system, but capable of radically changing the way we manage waste.
