Rome invests in billion-euro trash incinerator to tackle waste crisis

Rome aims to resolve its longstanding waste management issues within three years by spending around a billion euros ($1.1 billion) to build a trash incinerator, city authorities said on Monday.

For years, the Italian capital has struggled to deal with its some 1,600,000 tonnes (1,800,000 tons) of rubbish a year, with overflowing landfills forcing the city council to send trash to be disposed of elsewhere in Italy.

Located at Santa Palomba, a dozen kilometers south of the Italian capital, the proposed incinerator will burn 600,000 tonnes of waste yearly and is projected to generate enough energy to power 200,000 homes.

Asked about the cost, Rome's mayor Roberto Gualtieri said it would amount to "about a billion euros".

"The aim is to begin the works early in 2025 so that the establishment will be ready in summer 2027," Gualtieri told journalists.

Visited by millions of tourists a year, the "Eternal City" has too few rubbish bins on the streets, with residents frequently complaining of regular trash spillovers onto the pavements.

Besides electricity, the Santa Palomba plant will also help recover 10,000 tonnes of steel, 2,000 tonnes of aluminum, and 1,600 tonnes of copper per year, according to its designers.

In 2022, Italy had 36 such plants, concentrated mainly in the centre-north of the country.