How much waste does Italy produce? For 2026 the figure works out at an estimated 189.1 million tonnes, or roughly 417 billion pounds.
The last year anyone measured is 2022, when Italy generated 189.6 million tonnes, the highest total on its record. Building work produced 42.5% of it, and water, sewage and waste services produced another 21.5%, about twice their share across the EU.
Italy recycled 75.6% of its packaging in 2023, the third-highest rate among the EU countries with a figure for that year. Its total waste still rose at every reading from 2012 to 2022, when it reached 189.6 million tonnes.
Italy's waste totals (2010-2026)
Eurostat measures national waste every two years, so the table runs on even years, carried forward from 2022 to 2026, with each change measured against the previous reading.
| Year | Tonnes | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 189,051,679 | +1.0 million (+0.5%) |
| 2024 | 188,055,655 | -1.5 million (-0.8%) |
| 2022 | 189,553,511 | +14.7 million (+8.4%) |
| 2020 | 174,887,620 | +2.4 million (+1.4%) |
| 2018 | 172,502,773 | +8.7 million (+5.3%) |
| 2016 | 163,827,838 | +6.0 million (+3.8%) |
| 2014 | 157,870,348 | +3.4 million (+2.2%) |
| 2012 | 154,427,046 | -4.2 million (-2.6%) |
| 2010 | 158,627,618 | baseline |
Note: Eurostat's waste generation collection, covering all economic activities plus households. 2022 is the newest year it has published, so the 2024 and 2026 rows are our own estimates, explained in the next section.
Italy's total dipped once in this period, in 2012, and has grown at every reading since. The 2022 figure was 22.7% above the 2012 one and passed the previous high of 179.3 million tonnes, set in 2008.
The largest single step came between 2020 and 2022, when the total rose by 14.7 million tonnes. Construction accounted for almost all of it, with its waste climbing from 66.1 million to 80.6 million tonnes.
Where Italy's 2026 figure comes from
Eurostat has not published Italy's 2024 total yet, so the two newest rows in the table are estimates built on the measured 2022 figure. Two parts of it move on activity that has already been measured:
- Manufacturing. Moved by Eurostat's industrial production index for Italy, down 2.3% from 2022 to the first seven months of 2026.
- Households. Moved by municipal waste per person, which rose from 486 kg in 2022 to 489 kg in 2023, and by population, which fell 0.1% between January 2022 and January 2026.
Together those two parts make up 30.2% of the 2022 total. Everything else is held at its 2022 level.
Construction is the largest part held flat, at 42.5% of the total. Italy's construction output index rose 53.5% between 2020 and 2022 while construction waste rose 22.0%, and between 2018 and 2020 the two moved in opposite directions, so the index does not work as a guide to the waste.
The index has kept rising since, up 19.6% from 2022 to 2026, and none of that rise is carried into the estimate.
Since 2004 Italy's construction waste has moved by between 24.0% down and 41.9% up over four years, so the 2026 estimate of 189.1 million tonnes sits in a range from 170 million to 223 million.
Italy in the European picture
Italy generated 8.5% of the 2.23 billion tonnes of waste recorded across the EU-27 in 2022. That made it the third-largest total in the bloc, behind Germany at 385.8 million tonnes and France at 343.2 million.
Per person the order changes. Italy's 3,212 kg in 2022 was well below the EU average of 4,981 kg, and 16 of the other 26 member states generated more per head.
Mining and quarrying explain a good part of that. Across the EU the sector produced 22.4% of all waste in 2022, and in Italy it produced 0.8%. Part of any gap between countries is also down to how each one counts its waste, so the per-person order is a rough guide rather than a league table.
Which sectors generate Italy's waste?
Counted by who produced it, in tonnes and as a share, Italy's 2022 total splits between four large sectors and a long tail of small ones.
| Sector | Tonnes | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Construction | 80,635,008 | 42.5% |
| Water sewage and waste services | 40,820,929 | 21.5% |
| Households | 29,056,277 | 15.3% |
| Manufacturing | 28,181,815 | 14.9% |
| Shops offices and other services | 5,128,422 | 2.7% |
| Energy supply | 2,216,337 | 1.2% |
| Waste and scrap wholesalers | 1,708,392 | 0.9% |
| Mining and quarrying | 1,478,121 | 0.8% |
| Farming forestry and fishing | 328,210 | 0.2% |
Note: Eurostat's waste generation collection, 2022 reference year. Shares are rounded and add to 100.0%.
Construction came first, as it does in most of Europe, but at 42.5% Italy's share was only a little above the EU's 38.7%. Most of it was rubble.
Mineral waste from construction and demolition came to 55.4 million tonnes, 29.2% of the national total, while excavated soil came to 18.9 million, or 10.0%.
Waste that comes out of waste plants
The unusual line in Italy's split is the second one. Water, sewage and waste services generated 40.8 million tonnes of waste of their own in 2022, 21.5% of Italy's total against 10.5% across the EU. The firms that collect, sort, treat and recover waste produced 35.9 million tonnes of it.
Eurostat calls the material left over once a plant has sorted or processed the waste it took in secondary waste. Italy recorded 25.2 million tonnes of it in 2022, 13.3% of its total, against 6.6% across the EU.
Sorting residues, what is left once mixed waste has been sorted, show the same pattern. Italy's 17.0 million tonnes were 18.7% of all the sorting residues recorded in the EU in 2022, from a country that generated 8.5% of the EU's waste.
Municipal waste per person in Italy
Municipal waste is the slice most readers picture, the household bins plus similar waste from shops and offices. It is counted per person, which makes it the closest thing to a like-for-like figure across Europe.
Italy generated 489 kg of municipal waste per person in 2023, the newest year Eurostat has published for it, against an EU average of 511 kg that year.
That is a little below the average, though countries differ in how much commercial waste they count as municipal, so part of any gap is a counting difference.
Packaging waste in Italy
Packaging is the part of the pile that extended producer responsibility covers, and the part a company selling into Italy pays for directly.
Italy generated 12.9 million tonnes of packaging waste in 2023, the newest year on record, 5.6% less than in 2022. That works out at 220 kg per person, well above the EU average of 178 kg, and it was the second-largest packaging total in the EU after Germany's.
| Material | Tonnes | Recycled |
|---|---|---|
| Paper and cardboard | 5,024,414 | 92.6% |
| Glass | 2,642,425 | 77.4% |
| Wood | 2,423,459 | 64.9% |
| Plastic | 2,289,950 | 49.0% |
| Metal | 568,529 | 86.2% |
Note: Eurostat's packaging waste collection, 2023 reference year, with recycling shares calculated on the basis set for the 2025 targets. The five materials add up to the full total of 12,948,778 tonnes, give or take rounding.
What happens to Italy's plastic packaging?
Plastic is the one material where Italy sits close to the line. It recycled 49.0% of its plastic packaging in 2023, above the EU's 41.7% but just under half of the 2.29 million tonnes it generated.
Most of the rest, 983,611 tonnes or 43% of the total, went to energy recovery, burned to produce heat and power. Wood runs the other way, at 64.9% recycled against an EU average of 37.7%.
Who pays for it?
Italy has no state register for packaging. Producers and users of packaging must join CONAI, the national packaging consortium, unless they run a recognised system of their own, and pay its environmental contribution for each material they place on the market. Electronics, batteries and tyres do have a state register, RENAP, the national producers register.
A company abroad that sells to Italian businesses usually owes CONAI nothing, because its Italian importer joins and pays. Since 12 August 2026 a seller abroad shipping packaged goods straight to Italian consumers must appoint an authorised representative for producer responsibility in Italy.
What a producer has to register for is set out in the EPR duties for selling into Italy, and the packaging rules in detail on packaging EPR in Italy.
How Italy ranks on packaging recycling
Italy's overall packaging recycling rate of 75.6% in 2023 was the third-highest of the 23 EU countries with a 2023 figure, behind Belgium at 79.7% and the Netherlands at 75.8%. Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary and Poland had no 2023 figure, and all four reported lower rates for 2022.
The EU packaging regulation sets the recycling targets in its Article 52, one wave due by the end of 2025 and one by the end of 2030. The table sets Italy's 2023 rates against both waves.
| Packaging | By 2025 | By 2030 | Italy |
|---|---|---|---|
| All packaging | 65% | 70% | 75.6% |
| Paper and cardboard | 75% | 85% | 92.6% |
| Glass | 70% | 75% | 77.4% |
| Ferrous metals | 70% | 80% | 89.0% |
| Aluminium | 50% | 60% | 70.3% |
| Wood | 25% | 30% | 64.9% |
| Plastic | 50% | 55% | 49.0% |
Note: Regulation (EU) 2025/40, Article 52(1). Italy's rates are Eurostat's, 2023 reference year.
On its 2023 figures Italy had already met six of the seven targets set for 2025, and the same six set for 2030. Plastic is the exception, 1.0 percentage point short of the 2025 target and 6.0 points short of the 2030 one.
Day to day, the system runs on the declarations producers make to CONAI. Producers comparing the tools that prepare those declarations can start with the EPR software built for the Italian market.
Frequently asked questions about Italy's waste
Below are the eight questions that come up most often about Italy's waste figures.
How much waste does Italy produce each year?
Italy is estimated to produce around 189.1 million tonnes of waste in 2026. The newest measured year, 2022, came to 189.6 million tonnes, the third-largest total in the EU after Germany and France, at 3,212 kg per person.
Can Italy's waste be compared with other countries?
Only with care. Eurostat notes that differences between countries reflect consumption and wealth but also how much commercial and administrative waste each one counts as municipal, so part of any gap between two countries is counting practice rather than rubbish.
Why does Italy generate less waste per person than the EU average?
A large part is mining. Across the EU mining and quarrying produced 22.4% of all waste in 2022, and in Italy it produced 0.8%. Italy's 3,212 kg per person was well below the EU average of 4,981 kg that year.
Why does Italy's waste sector generate so much waste?
Sorting and treating waste leaves residues, and those count as waste in their own right. Water, sewage and waste services generated 40.8 million tonnes in 2022, 21.5% of the total, and Italy's sorting residues were 18.7% of the EU's.
How much packaging waste does Italy generate?
Italy generated 12.9 million tonnes of packaging waste in 2023, or 220 kg per person, well above the EU average of 178 kg. Paper and cardboard was the largest material by weight, followed by glass and wood.
Does Italy meet the EU packaging recycling targets?
On its 2023 figures Italy met six of the seven targets set for 2025, including the 65% overall rate, and the same six for 2030. Plastic is the exception, at 49.0% against a 2025 target of 50%.
How is Italy's 2026 waste figure estimated?
It starts from the measured 2022 total and moves manufacturing and households by activity already measured for 2026. Construction, 42.5% of the total, is held at its 2022 level because its waste has not followed the construction index, so the range is wide.
Who runs packaging EPR in Italy?
CONAI, the national packaging consortium, which producers and users of packaging must join unless they run a recognised system of their own. There is no state packaging register, and CONAI charges its environmental contribution per material.
Images: Nicola Quirico
