National Program for Waste Management (PNGR).

The National Program for Waste Management (PNGR) is a strategic tool of Italy to guide the Regions and the Autonomous Provinces in the waste management planning, for the period 2022-2028. The Program seeks to guide public policies and encourage private initiatives for the development of a sustainable and circular economy, for the benefit of the society and the quality of the environment.
This National Waste Management Program (PNGR) plays a strategic role in the definition of waste management policies in the context of the transition to a circular economy of Italy and its Regions and Autonomous Provinces in the European context and, more generally, considering also the guidelines of the global policies of the 2030 Agenda. Starting from these premises, the PNGR has the following general objectives: I. Contribute to the sustainable use of resources and reduce the waste cycle potential negative environmental impacts; II. Progressively rebalance socio-economic gaps, with regard to the waste management; III. Strengthen the awareness and virtuous behaviors of economic actors and citizens for waste reduction and valorization; IV. Promote a waste cycle management that contributes to the achievement of the objectives of climate neutrality.
The PNGR sets the macro-objectives, defines the criteria and strategic guidelines to which the Regions and the Autonomous Provinces will have to comply in the elaboration of their waste management plans, without prejudice to the competences attributed to local authorities, offering, at the same time, a national survey of available plant engineering, outlining the existing plant gaps. The macro-objectives are the following: A. reduce the gap in planning and plant equipment between the different regions, pursuing the progressive socio-economic rebalancing and rationalization of the plant system according to criteria of sustainability, efficiency, effectiveness, and economy in compliance with the principles of self-sufficiency and proximity; B. ensure the achievement of the objectives of prevention, preparation for reuse, recycling of waste and of reduction of final disposal to minimum also taking into account the producer's extended liability for the produced waste; C. rationalize and optimize the plant and infrastructural system through planning based on the complete traceability of waste and the definition of paths leading to fill the plant engineering gaps; support the reduction of potential environmental impacts, to be assessed also through the adoption of the life cycle analysis (LCA-Life Cycle Assessment) of integrated waste management systems; D. guarantee plant equipments with high quality management and technological standards, by promoting a waste cycle management that contributes to the attainment of climate neutrality objectives; E. increase environmental knowledge and improve environmental behaviors (including the protection of cultural heritage and landscape) with regard to waste and circular economy.
Accordingly, the PNGR sets up a series of macro-actions: 1. Promote the adoption of the approach based on the analysis of flows as a basis for the application of the life cycle assessment; 2. Identify and fill management and plant engineering gaps; 3. Verify that the planning of the Regions complies with the guidelines and methods of the PNGR; 4. Promote communication and environmental knowledge on waste and the circular economy; 5. Promote the implementation of the relevant components of the National Recovery and Resiliency Plan (PNRR) and other incentive policies; 6. Minimize the use of macro-area planning; 7. Ensure adequate monitoring of the implementation of the PNGR and its impacts.
For the purposes of preparing the PNGR, it was established, in November 2020 by the relevant Directorate General of the Ministry of Ecological Transition, an institutional technical table (Inter institutional Table for the Waste Management Plan). The participants to the table were the Regions, the two Autonomous Provinces, the High Institute for Environmental Protection and Research (ISPRA), the Association of the Italian Municipalities (ANCI), the Ministry of Economic Development (MISE) and the Authority for the Regulation of Energy Networks and Environment (ARERA). The strategies to develop a shared Program have been defined around this table.