The following main aspects embody the sustainability of the waste management services managed by the Hera Group:

• promoting and applying initiatives for waste prevention and reuse of products;
• increasing separated waste collection and the consequent recovery of materials;
• reducing waste sent to landfills, consistent with European and Italian regulations;
• recovering energy from waste (via waste-to-energy transformation processes and biogas recovery).

The prevention of waste eliminates the waste of resources and reduces the quantity of waste to be managed. Increased separated waste collection enhances the efficiency of downstream waste treatment and recovery of material and energy, as well as the reduction in landfill volumes.

Urban waste management

Overall, approximately 1.8 million tonnes of urban waste were collected in 2010, an increase of 3.9% over the previous year.

The share of urban waste collected by Hera and disposed of in landfills in 2010 (25.0%) decreased compared to 2009 (30.1%), in line with the 2010 objective: in compensation, urban waste treated in waste-to-energy plants increased (+2 percentage points, 29% in 2010 compared to 27% in 2009). The percentage of urban waste disposed of in landfills without pre-treatment came out at 17.7%.

Separate waste collection is implemented by the Group mainly with the single material collection system, and regards an extremely wide range of waste, in addition to the contributions of the public at Separate Waste Collection Centres (or Equipped Drop-Off Points).

In 2010, separate waste collection came out at 936.7 thousand tonnes, marking an increase of 12% compared to 2009. Separate waste collection per capita was 339.9 kilos per resident in 2010, a 9.5% increase over 2009.

Hera is also continuously committed to promoting separate waste collection and continuously promotes initiatives aimed at raising awareness amongst the general public.

In the first few months of 2011, a widespread campaign was carried out by distributing a kit of information materials on separate waste collection to over 2 million people directly in their homes:

• the "Rifiutologo" ["Wasteologue"], a practical handbook that lists the various types of waste normally produced in the home, associating each with the correct procedure for contribution
• the brochure “Sulle tracce dei rifiuti” ["Tracking Waste"] which transparently explains how the waste that Hera collects each day is managed and where it ends up, passing through all of the phases of the journey that brings waste to recovery plants
• a pamphlet on Drop-Off points, which provides all of the information about this service and is customised for each territorial area, with addresses and opening hours and the type of contributions that must or can be made at the drop-off points.

Sustainability is also achieved in environmental hygiene services (collection and sweeping) because these services are assigned to social cooperatives. Specifically, social cooperatives were assigned 21.4% of the total assignments made by the Group for environmental hygiene services in 2010.

Furthermore, it should be recalled that besides urban waste, the Group also manages waste produced by commercial, manufacturing and industrial activities, called special waste, which is quantitatively much more significant than urban waste. In 2010, the Group managed 3.6 million tonnes of special waste.

Waste-to-energy plant management

In 2010, 29% of the total urban waste and 5% of the total special waste managed by the Group (which totalled 3.6 million tonnes) was disposed of in waste-to-energy plants. The processing of waste in waste-to-energy plants produced 32.5% of the total energy produced by the Group in 2010.

In 2010, Group plant management became more transparent when tours of the waste-to-energy plants, which can be booked online, began to be offered; the initiative supplements the three advisory committees (RAB) of citizens who live near the Hera plants and the publication of WTE emissions every half hour.

Furthermore, in collaboration with the municipal administration and District 2, the waste-to-energy plant in Modena has had an information office available by reservation every Tuesday afternoon from 4:00 PM to 7:00 PM since 2009. By going to this office, the public can meet and request information on the waste-to-energy plant's operations directly from the technicians who work there every day. To book an appointment at the office, just call the District 2 URP or send a request via email. The discovery of the waste-to-energy plant is guided by a dedicated visitors' tour, inaugurated in 2010 and conceived to effectively and originally show the waste disposal and energy recovery process.

Waste prevention initiatives

Hera has developed and collaborated in numerous initiatives aimed at incentivising waste prevention. In 2010, it promoted or collaborated in approximately 20 waste reduction initiatives, 3 of which were initiated during the same year.

Amongst the initiatives implemented, Hera₂O (promotion of tap water use in Hera offices) and CiboAmico (donation of unused food from Hera canteens to local aid associations) are particularly significant because they are aimed at employees, and the former enables the reduction of plastic packaging, while the latter decreases organic waste. Both projects enjoyed strong support from numerous municipalities (for example, the "Mayor's Water" campaign) and significant local organisations (Last Minute Market, associations like Padre Marella in Bologna and Giovanni XXIII in Rimini).

Page updated 11 August 2011