AGCM

PRESS RELEASE

WASTE DISPOSAL: THE ANTITRUST AUTHORITY TO THE LAZIO REGION, REGULATIONS NEED TO BE REVIEWED SO AS TO AVOID COMPETITIVE DISTORSIONS

Report sent to the Ministry for the Environment, Land and Sea, to the Mayor of the Municipality of Rome, to the Commissioner delegated for the environmental emergency in the territory of Rome and Province. From a system which stimulates dump disposal to a structure which privileges separate collection and incinerators

The Autorità Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato has asked to review regional regulations as regards the management of urban waste with the aim to eliminate competitive distortions in the sector. The Authority’s report was submitted to the Lazio Region, to the Ministry for the Environment, Land and Sea, to the Mayor of the Municipality of Rome, to the Commissioner delegated for the environmental emergency in the territory of Rome and Province.

According to the Antitrust Authority, current regulations have in actual fact favoured waste disposal in dumps, which from a competitive viewpoint represents a less desirable management model. In fact, it does not allow for any type of economic exploitation, and therefore it constitutes a social cost both from an environmental and an economic viewpoint. On the contrary, separate collection can activate chains downstream, enabling the expansion of as many markets and the entrance of operators who otherwise would remain excluded. Even the recovery of energy, which activates one single chain (that of energy and/or heat production) can have a positive effect on the market.

Instead, current regulations have led to an excessive use of dump disposal in Lazio as it is the final destination of 71% of urban waste (data collected by Ispra). Separate collection has not been adequately promoted, and on the contrary a structure characterized by a great capacity of disposing undifferentiated waste has been endorsed (mechanical biological treatment plants). At the same time, the system of authorizations for incinerators, which does not allow to burn undifferentiated waste directly, did not enable said plants to have a role of competitive restriction in Lazio

for the activity of dump disposal as observed, instead, in other Italian Regions. In addition, both plants capable of transforming undifferentiated waste into fuel and the actual incinerators are used at reduced rates, thus further favouring dump disposal for undifferentiated waste.

Dump disposal of undifferentiated waste as well as the conferring to mechanical biological treatment plants occur upon the Municipalities’ payment of a tariff defined by the Region, on the basis of a cost statement (estimate and final cost) presented by the company that manages the plant. However, even this regulating activity is carried out with outcomes which in some cases produce discriminations and competitive restrictions. For example, there are no regional tariff determinations concerning the plants with mechanical biological treatment under AMA’s ownership, with possible negative consequences, at least in terms of lack of controls, on the costs of the treatment and following disposal, which AMA burdens on the citizens.

According to the Antitrust Authority, the choice to favour, over the years, the use of dump disposals compared to the interventions of recovery of the matter from the separate collection and of energy from undifferentiated waste, has hindered the reaching of an integrated structure of efficient management of urban waste, in which the different modalities of management are set, when possible, in competition among each other. As a result, the tariffs at the expense of the citizens of the Municipality of Rome for the management of waste are among the highest in Italy and second only to Naples (data collected by the Agency for the control and quality of the public services in Rome).

Rome, 09^th September 2013