The environmental law expert: by-products, the key to the circular economy
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The End of Waste decree (Dm Ambiente 152/2022) contains the rules for the termination of the waste qualification for construction and demolition waste, allowing its use as a raw material. In force since 4 November 2022, it has created debate among insiders, so much so as to lead Mase to prepare a draft regulation for the revision of the Ministerial Decree, already subjected to public consultation, which will lead to the issue of a revised text, as he explains the lawyer Stefano Palmisano, an expert in environmental law.
What are the critical points of the decree?
According to estimates presented by trade associations, following the decree, there would have been a significant reduction in recycled materials (from almost 80% to 10%).
What generated the most debate?
The scope related to the concentration of contaminants in the recovered aggregates, which did not take into account the different uses for which they are put. Recycled aggregate used for a public park should be treated differently than that which ends up under a highway.
What is the difference between waste and construction by-product?
Waste is the ordinary qualification of a production residue (article 183 of Tua, Consolidated Environmental Text). Waste which, following a recovery process (the end of waste), meets specific criteria, to be adopted in compliance with certain conditions established by law, loses the status of waste to become a product. On the other hand, the by-product, governed by article 184-bis of the Tua, is a production residue that never assumes the status of waste. For it to be qualified as such, four conditions must exist: the presence of a production process from which it originates; the certainty of use in the production process from which it originates or in another; use without treatments other than normal industrial practice; the legality of further use.
Why are by-products the key to the circular economy?
Because they prevent the formation of waste and avoid the extraction of raw materials. As such, they are the most powerful tool for achieving industrial symbiosis, with benefits for companies ranging from cost savings to revenues from the sale of the by-products themselves. At the apex of the waste hierarchy, the priority order of waste management and regulatory policy in the EU, there is precisely the concept of reduction through prevention.
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