“A regulation that, in the absence of adequate intervention, risks marking the de profundis for the inert waste management sector, blocking the virtuous recycling chain. We appreciate the openness to possible changes expressed by the Ministry of Environment and Energy Security and we ask for the immediate convening of a table to discuss the start and methods of verifying the
monitoring criteria.”
This is the comment of ANPAR, the National Association of Manufacturers of Recycled Aggregates that is part of Assoambiente at the entry into force (November 4, 2022) of the decree on the End of Waste of construction and demolition waste (Ministerial Decree 152 of September 27, 2022), which contains the “Regulation governing the cessation of the classification as waste of inert construction and demolition waste and other inert waste of
mineral origin”.
The decree, we recall, provides that inert waste deriving from construction and demolition, and other inert waste of mineral origin, subject to recovery operations, are no longer
classified as waste.
Anpar points out that the aggregates recovery sector manages, according to ISPRA data, about 48% of the special waste produced nationally and to date it had achieved and exceeded the recycling objectives dictated by the EU, reaching 78% of recovery.
These results - the Association continues - are threatened by the regulation long awaited by the entire supply chain, which in fact introduces parameters, requirements and controls that result in a national restriction, not actually justified by reasons of public interest related to the protection of
the environment or health.
The basic error, immediately reported by operators, is that the regulation makes no distinction based on the uses for which the aggregates are intended, in contrast to the UNI product standards that regulate their
uses.
On March 4, 2022, the then Ministry for Ecological Transition notified the European Commission of the technical regulation for the cessation of the qualification of waste for inert waste from construction and demolition activities and other waste of mineral origin; this happened at a crucial moment for the country's post-pandemic recovery and in the presence of the PNRR, which had indicated the above-mentioned End of Waste decree as one of its strategic objectives. The condition of extreme urgency had forced the Ministry to close the decree without comparison and sharing with trade associations and various stakeholders
.
Subsequently, the willingness to review the parts of the decree that ANPAR together with ANEPLA and NADECO had identified as possible obstacles to the full implementation of the Circular Economy in construction, was demonstrated with the inclusion of Article 7 'Monitoring' and recently, with the Ministry's press release last week that opened for a revision of the text.
ANPAR hopes for the timely reopening of the technical discussion table with companies in order to define the monitoring method and analyze the new data from the analytical checks carried out by companies on their products, in line with
the indications of the published decree.
ANPAR, while sharing the attention for parameters with a potential impact on human health and the environment, considers it necessary to quickly assess the concrete effects of these prudential limits on the effectiveness of the circular economy mechanism activated by regulation, so that the effects of a sharp reduction in the quantities of this waste actually sent for recovery are avoided; this would have direct repercussions on the entire sector of buildings, from aggregates recovery to construction sites for the implementation of the plan of strategic works envisaged in
the PNRR.
Source