Our Italian Adventure: Trash and Recycling in Italy

PART 114: It might be interesting to share how we pulled off living in Italy for part of the year. I will post some steps and what we are learning along the way.

We love every minute of it, and what was once a dream is our life!

We live in Tuscany in the Fall, then back again in the Spring, and in California for the rest of the time (in a previous blog, I explained why we live in Italy only part of the year).

Step 1: As we explore areas in Italy, we discover some gems worth sharing. Some are well-known tourist magnets, and others are lesser-known but always amazing.

Let's stay close to home this week and sort our trash together.

Step 2: We believed we were recycling in California by putting our plastic and glass in one bin and everything else in another. But when we got to Italy, we realized that our recycling practices were at a basic level.

Step 3: How trash is differentiated in Italy

The separation of trash in Italy goes something like this:

• Paper

• Organic materials

• Plastic

• Glass

• Metals

• Non-recyclable

Step 4: Is it the same everywhere in Italy?

The way you recycle depends a lot on your location. The Italian government is eager to maintain its reputation as a leader in sustainability. This is why Italy continues to enhance its waste management systems and services to promote reusing, reducing, and recycling for residents and businesses. Municipalities (comuni) will also impose fines on those who do not comply.

Step 5: Trash pick up: At home or down the street.

In our town in Puglia, trash was picked up every week on designated days. We had to remember the day each type of recycling or trash was collected and put it out the night before. We frequently had to check our chart because we could never remember! If we were away for a few days or more, the accumulated trash would have to sit until we returned.

Now that we live in the historical center of our town in Tuscany, we don't have trash pick-up at the house. Instead, we must bring it down to large color-coded bins a few blocks away. We prefer this method since we don't have to wait until a specific day to dispose of particular trash. These bins are locked but can be opened with a magnetic card obtained at the local government office by showing proof of home ownership. If someone is renting a place, the owner would supply this card.

Step 6: Color coding of trash bins.

Trash bins are color-coded: blue for paper, brown for organic, yellow for plastic, gray for non-recyclable. Some areas also use green for glass and turquoise for metals.

Step 7: The challenge of multiple garbage containers in the kitchen.

I'll be honest; having multiple trash containers in the kitchen can be a hassle when you have a small space. In our kitchen in Puglia, we were fortunate to have a larger space, so we could place all of our containers on one side of the kitchen. Although we had to see them all the time, at least we didn't trip over them. We also had an outdoor storage area at the bottom of our stairs, which allowed us to take out the trash and recyclables from the kitchen and keep them in the storage area until trash day.

In Tuscany, we have a "soggiorno" or main room that serves as a kitchen, living room, and dining room. Because space is limited, we want to avoid trash containers cluttering the floor. We found some stackable units a few days before we returned to California and put them in our pantry. We had to get small trash cans so they could fit in our pantry. Smaller trash cans mean more trips to the trash bins, but it's worth it. I hate clutter and would prefer to drop off recycling every morning on the way to the gym than having to look at trash containers in our main room.

Step 6: Links, sources: https://www.expatica.com/it/living/household/trash-and-recycling-in-italy-84629/#sorting

Insights:

Italy's recycling program takes some getting used to, but it's an excellent step for the environment. The US is a bit behind on this, but we are heading in that direction. In fact, our local trash disposal company in California recently issued color-coded bins as a voluntary recycling program modeled on the EU.

Starting this more differentiated recycling in Italy is good practice for us, and once we've overcome the learning curve, it has become second nature.

More next time.

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