Extractive waste and recycled aggregates: regulatory framework according to end-of waste criteria.

The European Directive 75/442/EEC (art.1) defines the concept of waste to guarantee its correct disposal. The aim of the European Union is to recover, recycle and reuse waste, according to Directive 91/156/EEC. Specifically, the European Commission publishes the "Thematic strategy on waste" (COM 2005), in which it provides clarifications on when a waste ceases to be a waste. With Directive 2008/98/EC (Framework Directive on waste, the equivalent Italian implementation of Legislative Decree 152/2006) it is defined what is a by-product and the end of waste criterion. Despite in September 2019 the European Commisison published a final report on best practices in Exstractive Waste Managements Plans, an unsolved issue in the sector of extraction and processing of stone materials and in the demolition and costruction sector is that of the enormous quantity of residual materials produced annually. Most of these wastes are currently landfills disposed and this involves both an economic and environmental disadvantage for companies. In a circular economy perspective, it is important to consider, as a future opportunity, the possibility of producing new materials from waste, looking for solutions and systems for their enhancement. In literature many studies have been carried out on the recovery of stone processing waste and recycled aggregates. The problem is related to Regulatory framework. The majority of the Member States of the European Union have implemented a national raw materials policy, adapting their specific environmental, economic and social needs to the development of objectives set out at Community level. Italy still does not have a well-defined national policy, due to its strong fragmentation of administrative competences between the State, Regions, Local Administrations and Territory. However, Italy actively participates in the European raw materials policy, with ministerial representations, regions, industry and research. In particular, according to M.D. 11 october 2017, in construction sector, criteria of high environmental value, called Minimum Environmental Criteria (CAM), must be respected. The minimum environmental criteria foresee that the content of recovered or recycled material on the total of the materials used must be at least 15% by weight. The individual Italian Regions are not coordinated with common objectives especially for productive needs linked to the availability of resources for the business system. In this context, we want to specify the critical issues related the Italian legislation and in this regard and present any solutions to the problem