by Vincenza Diciaula

Waste disposal and Cooking oil recycling in

Modugno and the nearby area

In Italy the disposal system of waste varies significantly from one region to

the other.

Garbage is managed according to the country’s national legislation at a

municipal level.

The local municipality is responsible for the disposal of trash and contracts

its collection to a waste disposal company.

In the nearby area there are lots of waste disposal companies.

AroBa2 is the organization in charge of the services of waste

collection and sweeping of the streets for the municipalities of

Modugno, Sannicandro, Bitetto, Binetto, Bitritto, Giovinazzo and

Palo del Colle . These 7 municipalities form a network managed by

the “Consorzio nazionale servizi società cooperativa - Cogeir s.r.l. -

impresa del Fiume s.p.a.”

Collection of waste can happen in two different ways.

The first is the door-to-door or curbside collection: the

garbage truck picks up the trash from individual bins.

The second is central collection: people have to place

their garbage at a central drop off area.

The main goal of AroBa2 is to reach 100% of curbside

collection. This situation will result in the gradual

disappearence of waste street bins.

In Italy recycling is mandatory from 2006 thanks to the legislative

decree n° 152 03/04/2006

After a garbage-crisis experienced by our country, the local municipal

authorities are trying to increase facilities for domestic collection as well as

recycling services. Actually the door-to- door collection of garbage is spreading

very quickly. Here in Modugno AroBa2 has started its activities in 2016.

Unfortunately people is not yet used to recycling, even though sorting rubbish

properly is not so difficult.

It is extremely important to recycle as much as possible and

recycle everything that can be recycled. All residents are

required to sort their rubbish in three categories.

The second category is

Recyclable Waste, which

is used for manufacturing

new products. ( Glass/

paper/ plastic/ wood)

The last type is Organic Waste, which

is used in the production of

fertilizers.

Municipal authorities encourage

people to keep their non-recyclable

waste to a minimum as landfill space

is a huge problem. Moreover if trash

is not well secured and sorted people

can be fined.

AroBa2’s motto is “pay more if you

pollute more” (chi più inquina, più

paga).

The sorting of waste may differ from one municipality to the other.

It is therefore important to check which category certain items like

textiles, clothing accessories and metals fall into. Most garbage

contractors have the guidelines for separating waste on their

websites.

People under the curbside collection scheme need to have separate

bins for each type of waste. It is imperative that all the garbage is

properly contained in bags before being placed in a bin. Contractors

may not pick up the garbage from a particular bin if the trash is not

well secured.

Here we have an example of our door-to-door collecting

system, this is a map of Modugno and a calendar of

contribution. Each colour in the table identifies the

category of waste and the day of contribution. For example

on Tuesday, in the Area A the box contains two colours,

brown and green, this means that you halve to put out your

two containers between 9.00 pm and 00:00a.m. ( brown

stands for organic, green for glass)

The disposal system in Italy gets its funding mainly from a yearly

disposal/ garbage tax known as TARES (formerly TARSU), which is

calculated according to the size of a property. If you are a property

owner or if you are renting an apartment, you have to pay an annual

tax to your municipality, unless specified otherwise. The fee you pay

depends on the size of your apartment and number of tenants but,

thanks to this new system of recycling, the more you recycle the less

you pay.

For what concerns cooking oil disposal AroBa2 has

introduced a special “collection at request” system

and in the guidelines there is a dedicated area for

cooking oil.

According to current estimates nowadays in Italy we

produce 280000tons of waste oil per year. This not

considering all the waste oil produced by restaurant

business; if we count the wastes produced by this sector

the amount dramatically increases at 60 thousand Tons

per year

The so called FAT, OIL, and Grease (FOG), that are left after cooking and baking

both in restaurants and in individual households can cause serious blockages in

the drainage systems if poured directly down the kitchen sink.

The oil left after cooking and frying, instead of being washed down the

drains, should be cooled down and poured into special containers or a

plastic bottle or jar. Once full, the container has to be taken to a

marked collection point where the oil can be properly disposed of and

recycled. There are slight differences between the ways household

collection is organised in different towns and regions, however, the idea

behind remains the same: to prevent the used cooking oil from getting

into the sewage pipes.

In the kit distributed by AroBa2 there is a special container for

used cooking oil. People should call and book in advance a

“collection at request” service, otherwise they could take the

special container to the nearest collection point (centro di

raccolta)

The used cooking oil brought by individuals to the

collection points is taken to the cleaning plant where it

undergoes filtration before it can be further transported

to a waste-based biodiesel producer. Later on,

(biodiesel made from used cooking oil) is blended into

diesel and used in transportation.

Used cooking oil collection at households in the EU is not yet

well developed. In many countries there are no special

recycling points dedicated to used cooking oil coming from

individuals. However in our area we have already succeeded

at establishing a well- functioning household used cooking oil

collection system providing an example to follow. Here is a

list of oil recycling points you can easily find in Bari.

- Parrocchia dell’Annunciazione

(via Lucarelli 130)

- Chiesa dei Comboniani (via Giulio

Petroni 101)

- Chiesa di Maria SS del Rosario

(piazza Garibaldi) Redentore

(nell’omonima piazza)

- Chiesa di San Giuseppe (corso

Sonnino)

- Chiesa di San Rocco (via Sagarriga

Visconti 57)

- Parrocchia della Resurrezione (via

Caldarola 30)

- Chiesa di San Marcello (via Re

David)

Here in Modugno and in the nearby area Soloil and other

companies such as ECO-SUD-AMBIENTE-SRL; and AroBa organise

many activities to create habits of collecting used cooking oil at

homes and to actively involve the citizens as much as possible.

In Rome and the nearby regions ( Marche, Abruzzo ) one of the

collection systems called Per Olivia, puts a lot of effort into

education of youngest generations. They co-operate closely with

local authorities and schools organising various events such as the

so called Olii@mpiadi, a competition between schools for who will

collect more used cooking oil per student. They also run a very

active Facebook page to be closer to people in order to help them

understand the why and how of household oil collection.

Recent studies reveal that every € 100 spent within the

local economy generates an additional economic activity

within the community. That is why there has been the rise

in the production of soaps, creams, wax, varnish,

lubricants, paints and even candles. Can you guess what

the main ingredient for all these products is?

The answer is: used cooking oil!

Our Erasmus + project aims at creating

good practices and it aims at affecting

us all. We aim at educating young

people and their families...giving them

the opportunity to learn and become

the “natural scientists” of the future.

To know more:

Comunes_of_Italy a nd http://www.politicalresources.net/it-citiesA.htm

https://www.bariamo.info/olio-da-cucina-usato-dove-gettarlo-a-bari-per-una-corretta-raccolta- differenziata/

https://www.aroba5.it/olio-vegetale-esausto/

www.amiupuglia.it

www.greenea.com