To answer the doubts following the transposition of Directive no. 851/2018 with the legislative decree n. 116/2020, which concerns mowing and pruning waste, Assofloro has prepared a clarification, asking for the opinion of Stefano Masini, head of the Environment and Territory area at the Coldiretti National Confederation.
Masini points out that many of the interpretations start from the erroneous assumption of the will to discard the materials deriving from the maintenance of public green spaces without dwelling on the additional alternatives that are open to a craftsman as well as an agricultural entrepreneur before considering mowing and pruning as waste.
In fact, although the legislative decree n. 116/2020 amending the legislative decree n. 152/2006 has inserted the definition of urban waste, including the vegetable residues produced in the maintenance of public green areas, however, it is necessary to identify different solutions, in relation to the objective or subjective context of reference, so as to be necessary to proceed of the cases affected by the indicated change.
On the basis of a strictly objective criterion, waste from public green maintenance, such as leaves, grass clippings and tree pruning, must be considered urban waste pursuant to the new Article 183, lett. b-ter. On the other hand, waste from production, agriculture, forestry, fishing is expressly excluded from the urban waste regulations (Article 183, paragraph 1, b-sexies).
Furthermore, the regulations on by-products pursuant to art. 184-bis, relating to material deriving from a manufacturing process that is not primarily intended to produce it and of which the holder does not seek to "discard", but intends to exploit or market - possibly also for the needs of economic operators other than the one who produced it - under conditions favorable to it, in a subsequent process, provided that such reuse is not only possible but certain, does not require a preliminary transformation and intervenes in the course of the production process (see lastly Court of Justice, judgment C-629/19).
Again, particular attention is paid to the category of organic waste, through the inclusion of art. 182 ter of Legislative Decree no. 152/2006 due to the legislative decree n. 116/2020.
It is appropriate to resolve the classification of cases that present margins of overlap between the categories of non-waste, special waste, organic waste and urban waste, taking into account the various entrepreneurial figures involved in the maintenance of public green areas: in particular, artisan entrepreneurs and agricultural.
The full text on the Assofloro website.