Wastes are solid, liquid and semi-solid materials, discarded or abandoned, coming from different human activities: agricultural, industrial, public or private activities.

The Italian Legislative Decree No 152/2006 also known as Environmental Consolidated Act (Testo Unico sull’Ambiente) sets out that the waste must be characterised to understand if it is destined to a disposal plant (and which one) or to recovery, ensuring environmental and therefore human safety.

A useful instrument for the classification of waste is the SNPA 24/2020 guideline (National System Environmental Protection - approved with resolution No 105/2021). It contains the references to all the relevant documents for a proper classification of a waste. Among the most important are:

- Directive No 2008/98/EC and following amendments (substantially amended by Regulation No 2014/1357/EU and Regulation No 2017/997/EU) on waste and its classification
- Decision No 2000/532/EC and following amendments – European List of Wastes (LoW)
- CLP Regulation
- POPs Regulation

In a circular economy framework, waste can have different destinations. On the basis of the amendments to Regulation No 2008/98/EC by Regulation No 2018/851/EU, the waste management hierarchy is as follows:

- Reuse
- Recycling
- Recovery
- Disposal

In compliance with Italian Legislative Decree of 13 January 2003, any business producing waste must test the waste to characterise it and dispose of it in the appropriate landfill site or start a suitable recovery operation. The Decree (amended by Italian Legislative Decree No 121/2020) sets out specific methods to sample and test the waste that is acceptable to landfill sites.

Among the products derived from waste, particular attention is attached to the waste reused as fuel, called SRF (Solid Recovered Fuel): materials that are no longer waste and can be sold as fuel.

After the declaration of conformity is issued, they lose their waste status, as set out in the Decree of the Italian Minister for Environment No 22 of 14 February 2013 governing end-of-waste status to determine types of Solid Recovered Fuel - SRF (defined internationally by UNI EN ISO 21640:2021 standard).

This law is part of the so-called ‘End of Waste’ regulations, that is the regulations setting out the criteria for the end-of-waste status. In addition to SRF, the following regulations were published too:

- Decree of the Italian Minister for Environment No 69/2018 (asphalt concrete)
- Decree of the Italian Minister for Environment No 188/2020 (paper and cardboard)
- Decree of the Italian Minister for Environment No 152/2022 (inert waste from demolition)

Some matrices deriving from production waste or waste recycling are instead used as secondary raw materials. They must comply with specific regulations and have minimum performance characteristics depending on the final product to obtain. Non-hazardous waste can be subjected to simplified recovery procedures as set out in Italian Ministerial Decree of 05-02-1998 and following amendments.