The new plastics treatment plant built in Macchiareddu, in the 11th Street industrial area, will enter the commissioning phase by the end of October. This facility is set to become the largest of its kind in Sardinia, with a capacity to treat approximately 4,000 tons of material per year.

A €22 million investment, €18 million of which is funded through the National Recovery and Recycling Plan (NRRP), aims to strengthen the island's capacity to manage and recover plastic waste. The plant's launch follows the difficulties experienced during the summer months with plastic waste collection in the Cagliari metropolitan area, with collection services repeatedly suspended due to the lack of space and treatment capacity.

The new Macchiareddu facility will join the existing plants in Oristano and Arborea, thus increasing the region's overall capacity. "With this facility, the problem will be solved once and for all," explains Cacip President Beniamino Garau . But for the Consortium, the goal isn't limited to emergency management.

"We want to close the supply chain and launch a truly circular project, preventing the separated plastic from being sold off the island." This is the next step on which Cacip intends to focus its strategy: transforming recovered materials into new resources, creating a supply chain in Sardinia capable of valorizing what is currently treated as waste. Among the options under consideration is the use of pyrolysis technologies, which can transform plastic waste into energy products. This option, the Consortium specifies, will need to be carefully evaluated from a technical and economic perspective before being implemented.

The plastics project is part of a broader strategy for recovering waste from processing. "We intend to do the same with waste-to-energy ash," Garau announces.

In this case, a collaboration with the University of Cagliari is already underway to explore the possibility of transforming these materials into new products, from street furniture to specific types of concrete. The plastics plant thus becomes one piece of a broader plan, in which waste recovery is intertwined with the revitalization of the Macchiareddu industrial area. "We must break the siege of photovoltaics, which for years has occupied a significant portion of the available land," says the president of CACIP.

The challenge now is to attract productive activities again. "To revitalize Cagliari's industrial area, we must engage with businesses throughout Sardinia, understand their needs, and create the conditions for them to find the space and services they need to invest here."

Macchiareddu therefore aims to change direction: no longer just an area dedicated to waste management and energy, but a hub where material recovery, innovation, and new industrial activities can contribute to building a truly Sardinian production chain.

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