MSW management in a lacustrine area: circular economy criteria and effects of COVID-19 emergency

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2021 10th International Conference on ENERGY and ENVIRONMENT (CIEM) | 978-1-6654-4584-9/21/$31.00 ©2021 IEEE | DOI: 10.1109/CIEM52821.2021.9614798

MSW Management in a Lacustrine Area: Circular Economy Criteria and Effects of COVID-19 Emergency Anzhelika Karaeva

Fabio Conti

Department of Theoretical and Applied Sciences Insubria University Varese, Italy akaraeva@uninsubria.it

Department of Theoretical and Applied Sciences Insubria University Varese, Italy fabio.conti@uninsubria.it

Vincenzo Torretta

Giorgio Ghiringhelli

Department of Theoretical and Applied Sciences Insubria University Varese, Italy vincenzo.torretta@uninsubria.it

ARS Ambiente srl Varese, Italy ghiringhelli@arsambiente.it

Elena Romenovna Magaril

Department of Theoretical and Applied Sciences Insubria University Varese, Italy elena.rada@uninsubria.it

Elena Cristina Rada Department of Environmental Economics Ural Federal University Ekaterinburg, Russia magaril67@mail.ru Abstract— Lacustrine areas are often studied for their environmental relevance. In spite of that the literature has a limited number of articles on the management of municipal solid waste in such contexts. In this frame, the present work wants to contribute to the knowledge of that topic zooming on an area along the shore of Lake Maggiore, Italy. Data of sixteen municipalities were analysed to verify their performances and the consequence of COVID-19 emergency on waste management. Indicators as per-capita residual municipal solid waste production and selective collection efficiency demonstrate the positive management of waste in the area. The pandemic affected the behavior of the population as demonstrated by the variations of plastic packaging delivered to selective collection during the lockdowns. The abundant use of surgical masks during the pandemic did not affected significantly the stream of waste. However, solutions are needed to manage them according to the circular economy principles. Index Terms -- Circular Economy, COVID-19, Lake, Municipal Solid Waste, Recovery, Tariff.

I.

INTRODUCTION

Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) management in lacustrine areas represents a topic that was not fully developed. Few papers are published on this topic [1]-[5]. Generally, the scientific research was conducted considering lake health (e.g.,

pollution from the agricultural point of view or from landfill leachate where its management is incorrect) and lake management (e.g., quality control and pollution prevention). Circular Economy (CE) was introduced in Europe, in order to close the loop of material fluxes to give to them a second life and to be in concordance with one of the EU concepts, “Living well, within the limits of our planet”, requested through the Decision No 1386/2013/EU [6] and in agreement with the research developed by Ellen MacArthur Foundation [7]. The last year the European Union (EU) has adopted a CE action plan for a cleaner and more competitive Europe [8]. MSW represents one of the main axes that must be managed in concordance with the CE requests [9], [10]: more actions must be made mainly for material and energy recovery but also new criteria for a green/renewable environmental sustainability must be found and applied. Considering the above requests/purposes, the present paper aims to add more knowledge to the lacustrine areas and MSW management connection, considering the CE concepts and environmental sustainability. In this frame, an area of the Italian Lake Maggiore was chosen for zooming on the MSW sector. The area, belonging to the Province of Varese and located along the shore of the lake (Figure 1), was subject to a variety of studies concerning not only directly or indirectly the environment but also the narrative literature thanks to its unique development between one Swiss

978-1-6654-4584-9/21/$31.00 ©2021 IEEE

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