Gestione Sostenibile e circolare dei rifiuti

Knowledge and Understanding

The course aims to provide students with the fundamental knowledge required for the integrated management of municipal and special waste in both civil and industrial sectors, with particular emphasis on a circular and sustainable waste recovery approach.

Specifically, the following Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the 2030 Agenda will be addressed: 11.6: Reduce the environmental impact of cities, particularly with regard to air quality and waste management; 12.3: Halve per capita global food waste; 12.4: Ensure environmentally sound management of waste to minimize adverse impacts on human health and the environment; 12.5: Substantially reduce waste generation through prevention, reduction, recycling, and reuse; 14.1: Prevent and significantly reduce marine pollution from land-based activities, including marine litter and nutrient pollution.

Applying Knowledge and Understanding

By the end of the course, students will have acquired a sustainable and circular perspective on the integrated management of municipal and special waste within the framework of national and international regulations, and will be able to apply the technical criteria required to identify the most appropriate management and treatment strategies.

Making Judgements

Students will be able to identify and classify different types of waste based on their characteristics and critically evaluate alternative management and treatment solutions, selecting the most suitable options according to sustainability, circularity, technical efficiency, and economic feasibility criteria.

Communication Skills

By the end of the course, students will be able to use the technical and scientific terminology of the waste management sector correctly and to communicate clearly and effectively the principles of the circular economy, the challenges associated with waste management, and the main strategic and technological solutions discussed during the course.

Learning Skills

Students will develop the ability to independently update their knowledge through the consultation of scientific and technical literature, while deepening their understanding of technological developments in sustainable and circular waste management.

Lectures.
Discussion of lecture content. Classroom exercises using computer-based tools.

Should the course be delivered in a blended or fully online format, the necessary adjustments may be made to the arrangements described above in order to comply with the planned syllabus and course content.

Students who have been officially recognized as working students, student-athletes, students in vulnerable situations, students with disabilities, or incarcerated students, pursuant to Article 30 of the University Academic Regulations, may take examinations during the extraordinary examination sessions reserved for students who are behind schedule with their studies and will have access to specific academic support activities (video lectures, where available).

Course Introduction and Environmental Issues.
Global Risks and the 2030 Agenda.
Sustainability: key elements and reference standards. ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance).
Circular Economy: definitions, reference standards, and metrics. The 5 Rs of the circular economy in waste management.

Environmental Legislation: Legislative Decree 152/2006 and subsequent amendments – "Environmental Code".
Overview of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA), toxicology, ecology, and biogeochemical cycles. Ministerial Decrees on End-of-Waste criteria.

Environmental Pollutants in waste and solid matrices – examples.
Waste Classification and Characterization – examples.
Exercise: Waste characterization.

Exercise: Intermediate assessment.

Integrated Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) Management.
Territorial areas. Waste collection and recovery models and systems.
Case Studies of integrated solid waste management systems (ISWMS):

ISWMS of the Sicily Region,

ISWMS of the Emilia-Romagna Region,

Other national and international ISWMS – challenges and future perspectives.

Exercise: Design of a municipal waste collection system to support ISWMS.
Technical visit to municipal solid waste management facilities (to be specified).

Exercise: Intermediate assessment.

Liquid Waste.
Distinction between liquid waste and wastewater – examples.
Characteristics of liquid waste.
Environmental Reactors – examples.
Physical Treatments – examples.
Physico-chemical Treatments – examples.
Biological Treatments – examples.

Exercise: Physical treatment of liquid waste.
Exercise: Physico-chemical treatment of liquid waste.
Exercise: Biological treatment of liquid waste.

Emerging Issues: food waste, microplastics, etc. – examples.
Introduction to Treatment Plants for water and waste – examples.
Introduction to Treatment Plants for gaseous emissions – examples.
Introduction to Remediation Interventions for contaminated sites – examples.

Technical visit to a waste treatment plant (Sicula Trasporti).

Exercise: Intermediate assessment.

Sustainability

ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance)

Circular Economy

Environmental Legislation

End-of-Waste

Environmental Pollutants

Waste Classification and Characterization

Integrated Municipal Solid Waste Management (MSW)

Liquid Waste Treatment