ROME, Oct. 12 (Xinhua) -- Italy has what it takes to become a leader in the circular economy sector, according to a report presented here Friday by CENSIS social and economic think tank.
A circular economy is based on a model that reduces and/or eliminates waste, recycles used materials, and places value on the longevity of consumer products, making them last as long as possible, according to Italian news agency AGI, which is owned by Italian oil and gas giant ENI and which co-wrote the report with CENSIS.
The report was presented at the 6th edition of the three-day European Maker Faire, which kicked off Friday in Rome.
The Maker Faire describes itself as a showcase "for inventions and innovation open to all forms of applied creativity... from new technologies to traditional 'know how' and handicraft." Sectors include design, electronics, robotics, 3-D printing, health and quality of life, art, drones, energy, sustainability, and open sources.
Speaking at the inauguration of the Maker Faire, ENI CEO Claudio Descalzi called on Italian entrepreneurs to jump in to the circular economy by providing his multinational company with industrial waste that can be used to generate energy.
"We don't have direct access to waste," Descalzi said in a televised speech. "There has to be a chain of business providers that select the waste -- whether organic or inorganic -- and then sell it to us."
"This will add further upside to the circular economy," Descalzi told participants.
"There are hundreds of entrepreneurs here whose core business is transformation, recycling, and innovation. Today, ENI officially begins working with these issues, and wants to work with start-ups ... to create this new chain of circular production that can bring ENI, in a country such as Italy with no raw materials, to exploit the energy that can be obtained from waste."
Italy is the lowest consumer of raw materials in Europe, with 8.5 tonnes per capita compared to a European average of 13.5 tonnes per capita, and it is among the best at extracting value from resources used: 3.34 euros per kilo of resources, against a European average of 2.2 euros per kilo, according to the CENSIS-AGI report.
Italy also scores high in terms of waste recycling: of 129 million tonnes of industrial waste generated per year, just 21 percent goes to landfills, compared to a European average of 49 percent. It also recycles 76.9 percent of its treated industrial waste (against Europe's 36.2 percent).
The recycling industry in Italy involves 10,500 companies that employ about 133,000 people, and produces an estimated 12.6 billion euros in added value, or 1 percent of national gross domestic product (GDP), according to the report.
