Every year in Italia are intended for recycling almost 110 million tons of waste, equivalent to over 65% of that produced, with a turnover that in 2022 stands at over 70 billion euros. But in the next few years it could grow by 30%, reaching almost 90 billion euros. Illustrating the scenario is an analysis of Bain & Company on the sector Waste Management and Recycling.
He explains how the world annually consumes 1.7 times the amount of resources it is able to regenerate: 100 billion tons of new resources are extracted and the share of those sent for recycling stops at 9%. Yet a circular economic model, in addition to reducing the use of raw materials and reducing CO2 emissions, could contribute to European GDP growth up to 7% and the creation of 2 million jobs by 2030.
Precise in fact Roberto Prioreschi, regional managing partner of Semea at Bain & Company, that “over the next ten years, the turnover in our country in this sector is expected to grow by 30%, to 90 billion euros, with profits increasing by over 4 billion, to reach 16 billion in 2030. Recycling will play a central role in the ecological transition and in the transformation of economic models from linear to circular ”. For Prioreschialongside the optimization of the use of resources and the reduction of waste production, “it is essential to improve efficiency and redesign the processes of collection, management and recycling of packaging, goods and products”.
From this point of view, according to the report by Bain, over the years Italy has been able to give life to interesting processes, thanks to the initiative of some companies that have recovered waste to send it to production. There are as many actions to be implemented in the future, such as consolidating a position downstream of the value chain, to grasp the increase in the profit pool in the recycling and production of manufactured goods from secondary raw materials. And then promote ecosystems e circular platforms on which to build new business opportunities, developing tailor-made solutions for industrial customers, at the same time defining new standards for recycled materials and developing partnerships with packaging and goods manufacturers.
Finally, the research Bain highlights the importance of accelerate digital and technological transformation to improve existing or not yet fully industrialized solutions.
“In the next few years there will also be a boost from European and national legislation, the contribution of green technological development, growing awareness and attention of consumers, investor interest and the urgency on the part of companies to adopt business models that are increasingly resilient to shocks”, concludes Alessandro Cadei, head of Bain’s Energy & Utilities EMEA practice. “We will see a profound transformation of the sector and this will imply a need for operators to develop new partnerships and enable true circular ecosystems”.