Waste management and valorization

In the provinces of Terni and Ancona there are four plants for the selection and recycling of paper, iron, wood, plastic and metal, with a total capacity of over 145,000 tons per year. At these plants we also recycle production and packaging waste and manage waste disposal, mainly on behalf of Corepla (“National Consortium for the Collection, Recycling and Reuse of Plastic Packaging”). 

Moreover, the company owns a facility in the north Ancona area, operating in the mechanical treatment and recovery of recyclable urban waste (mixed and mono-material packaging) and non-hazardous special waste with an authorised capacity of 13 thousand tonnes.
In the province of Rome Acea operates in transporting, treating and recovering urban, hazardous and non-hazardous waste, such as paper, plastic, wood, glass, metal. The recyclable waste is collected by municipal authorities, agencies and industry.

Acea carries out its plastic waste selection, treatment, and recycling activities in its plants in Abruzzo, Marche, Piedmont, Umbria, and Veneto. 

The Demap plant, located in the province of Turin, is the first Acea centre dedicated to the treatment of the plastics to be recycled. The plant was built in 2006 and underwent a subsequent revamping in 2015.

The plant carries out sorting and recycling activities for plastic and plastic/metal packaging. More specifically, it focuses on the storage, selection, sorting, and separation of mono- and multi-materials from differentiated collection, such as plastic materials and metal packaging, for a subsequent recovery phase. The Demap plant has an agreement with the Corepla Consortium, the Consortium of companies established pursuant to Leg. Dec. No. 22/1997 to organise and manage post-consumption plastic packaging and carries out its activities according to a contract for the selection of plastic packaging waste signed with the Consortium itself. In 2022, approximately 25,400 tons of material entered and were processed for separation and recovery. The plant operates in line with the European strategy on circular economy, which aims to make all plastic packaging recyclable by 2030.

The plants in Abruzzo and Veneto recycle 70,000 tons of plastic per year as established in 2021. This stage follows the plastic selection stage carried out by Acea at the plant in Beinasco.

Paper Treatment

Terni also has a waste-to-energy plant fueled by pulper residuals, non-recyclable paper waste that would otherwise be destroyed. The plant processes 100,000 tons of waste per year and is one of the largest in Italy for amount of pulper residuals converted into electricity, an average of 75,000 MWh/year.