Legislative Decree No. 22 of 1997 implementing Directive 91/156/EEC on waste, Directive 91/689/EEC on hazardous waste and Directive 94/62/EC on packaging and packaging waste.

This Legislative Decree, which consists of five Titles and nine Annexes, lays down at national level the legislative framework applicable to waste management, waste disposal and waste prevention, in implementation of relevant Community legislation, namely Directives 91/156/EEC, 91/689/EEC and 94/62/EC.
Title I is devoted to waste management. Article 8 specifies those categories of waste (such as radioactive waste) which are not envisaged. The aims pursued are waste prevention (art. 3), waste recycling and reuse (art. 4) and waste disposal compatible with environmental protection (art. 5). Article 7 provides for the classification of waste into, on the one hand, urban waste and special waste, and, on the other hand, hazardous waste and non hazardous waste. Article 9 prohibits the mixture of different categories of hazardous waste as well as the mixture of non hazardous waste and hazardous waste pertaining to the categories specified in Annex G. Article 11 provides for the rearrangement of the Waste Cadastre. Further provisions deal with transport (art. 15) and transboundary movements of waste (art. 16), environmental restoration of areas that have been polluted by waste (art. 17), institutional competences (arts. 18-21), plans on waste management (arts. 22-26), authorization regime (arts. 27-30). Title II regulates the management of packaging and packaging waste, whereas Title III is concerned with the management of particular categories of waste. Title V lays down penalties.