Waste-to-Wealth: The Economic Reasons for Replacing Waste-to-Energy With the Circular Economy of Municipal Solid Waste

Sharing the same raw material, recycling and composting are in direct conflict with incineration of municipal solid waste in combined heath and power plants. Indeed, waste-to-energy plants in regions with high recycling rates import urban waste from other countries to use otherwise unused capacity, and raise revenues. Using the case of Italy’s second largest and economically most developed region, I discuss the economic viability of municipal solid waste incineration to produce electricity and heath in the context of the increasing role of electricity production from renewable energy sources as well as of the emerging mass-scale uptake of bioplastics. Four lessons and three guidelines aimed to local authorities and policy makers emerge from the present study.