Waste-law targets in France, Italy and Brazil: one of 6 reached by its deadline
- France: 35% recycled108%
- France: 45% recycled90%
- Italy: 35% sorted74%
- Italy: 45% sorted68%
- Italy: 65% sorted62%
- Brazil: all to landfills52%
Fact at the deadline, % of the promised number
One of 6 reached by its deadline.
Italy ordered 65% of household waste to be collected separately by 2012; it got 40% and passed 65% 10 years later. Brazil was to send all waste to proper landfills by 2014; 52.4% went there.
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Parliaments and governments wrote into law what share of waste would be recycled, sorted at source or taken to engineered landfills instead of dumps by a deadline. Here those targets are beside what came out.
A row is one promise: who, what and by when. The question is whether at least half came true. Answer Yes or No, or just open the answer: each row gets its outcome and what actually came of it, the card a stamp counting those that came true. Quotes and links to the facts are below.
- France: 35% recycled — French Parliament (Grenelle I Act), 2009 % of municipal waste, recycling and composting
promised 35 by 2012; fact 38 (108%). The law's target was 35% of household waste recycled in 2012; Eurostat gives 37.7%.
- France: 45% recycled — French Parliament (Grenelle I Act), 2009 % of municipal waste, recycling and composting
promised 45 by 2015; fact 41 (90%). The law's target was 45% of household waste recycled in 2015; Eurostat gives 40.7%, and by 2024 the share had not passed 41%.
- Italy: 35% sorted — Government of Italy (Silvio Berlusconi), Legislative Decree 152/2006, 2006 % of municipal waste produced collected separately
promised 35 by 2006; fact 26 (74%). The target was at least 35% separate collection by end-2006; the outcome was 25.8%, and 35% was first exceeded in 2010 (35.3%).
ISPRA, Catasto nazionale rifiuti — produzione e raccolta differenziata nazionale
- Italy: 45% sorted — Government of Italy (Silvio Berlusconi), Legislative Decree 152/2006, 2006 % of municipal waste produced collected separately
promised 45 by 2008; fact 31 (68%). The target was at least 45% by end-2008; the outcome was 30.6%, and 45% was first exceeded in 2014 (45.2%).
ISPRA, Catasto nazionale rifiuti — produzione e raccolta differenziata nazionale
- Italy: 65% sorted — Government of Italy (Silvio Berlusconi), Legislative Decree 152/2006, 2006 % of municipal waste produced collected separately
promised 65 by 2012; fact 40 (62%). The target was at least 65% by end-2012; the outcome was 40.0%, and 65% was first exceeded in 2022 (65.2%).
ISPRA, Catasto nazionale rifiuti — produzione e raccolta differenziata nazionale
- Brazil: all to landfills — National Solid Waste Policy law (Lula da Silva), 2010 % of collected household and public waste mass
promised 100 by 2014; fact 52 (52%). In 2014, 52.4% of collected waste went to sanitary landfills; 12.3% to open dumps, 13.1% to "controlled" landfills, and 18.3% was unreported.
Ministério das Cidades, SNIS, Diagnóstico do Manejo de Resíduos Sólidos Urbanos 2014 (2016)
Targets: the texts of the laws: Grenelle I (France, 2009), Legislative Decree 152/2006 (Italy), the National Solid Waste Policy law (Brazil, 2010). Fact: Eurostat, Italy’s Institute for Environmental Protection and Research (ISPRA), Brazil’s National Sanitation Information System (SNIS). Outcome: «came true» — the promised number reached by the deadline («about» within 5%), an event happened before the end of the year promised; «exceeded» — with room to spare; «nearly» — short by no more than 10%; «late» — reached, but after the deadline; «did not come true» — not reached; «came true, then undone» — reached, then reversed. The deadline is the end of the year named.
The French law counts “household and similar waste”, Eurostat municipal waste; the definitions are close but not the same. Italy set the target for each municipality; here is the national average: higher in the North, lower in the South; from 2016 the share is counted by a new method, which added a few points. Italy passed 35% and 45% in 2010 and 2014. In France recycling had not passed 41% by 2024. In Brazil there are no data for 18% of waste; assuming two thirds of it went to dumps, 58.5% was disposed of properly; the deadline was moved twice, to 2020–2024.
A question for this picture
Why is a waste-law target met years after its deadline, though no one repealed it?