The public company Contarina is responsible for the waste management in the district of Priula and Treviso in Northern Italy, serving 50 municipalities and more than 554,000 inhabitants. The decision taken by the local administration in 2005, to keep incineration out of the system, was the pre-condition for maximising recovery of value, and pushed the province to become the best performer in Europe. What is the secret allowing Contarina to recycle twice the European average and generate five times less residual waste? 

• Good political will and commitment to continuously improving the system 
• Transparency thanks to a shared database among stakeholders
• Great source separation at source
• Waste reduction incentives through a Pay-As-You-Throw (PAYT) system

As a result, separate waste collection reached 85%, with peaks around 90% in some municipalities, ranking far above the national average (42%) while maintaining low waste management costs (€178/year/household on average). To improve this already winning system, in 2015 Contarina set to open a Material Recovery and Biological Treatment  (MRBT) plant which reduces the final residues to only 46,5% of the total residual waste.