Municipal solid waste collection in the city of Rome (Italy): an analysis

Separate collection of the municipal solid waste in the city of Rome represents a key issue due to the urban scale (urban surface area equal to 1287 km2) and the total amount of waste produced (approximately 1,690,000 tons/year). An in-depth analysis has been developed to optimize the delivery of waste to collection centres. Furthermore, the present research has highlighted how the collection centres should distributed within the city and, on the basis of data provided by Municipality, waste materials that should be advantageously recycle as a part of the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) were identified. The analysis proceeds with the calculation of the centroids (using the discrete system’s formula) of the total population, the separate waste collection and positioning of collection centres overlapping, all the obtained results, in the map of the city. The solution proposed by the Municipality has been taken into account, which includes achieving 65% of separate collection and 35% disposal via incineration. Authors believe that to reach such value of separate waste collection it will be necessary to reorganize the collection system throughout the city. The waste collection system in the municipality of Rome is not optimized, in particular the collection centre are located in semi-central areas and they are not homogeneously distributed across the urban territory. Additionally, the planned incinerator is located in the area furthest from the historic center (25 km).