And after the plastic crisis, the alarm is raised over waste disposal. This is being raised by Virgilio Vardeu, technical director of the De Vizia company , which manages waste collection in the Municipality of Cagliari. Muravera, Sinnai, San Vito, and Carbonia are just a few of the many municipalities where plastic collection is stalled. Among the causes is virgin Asian plastic sold at much more competitive prices than recycled plastic. Furthermore, many storage sites are now full and unable to collect further material.

"This situation should have been foreseen," explains Vardeu. "It was enough to read the reports from Corepla, the consortium that receives funds collected from consumers and diverts them, in part, to support the entire recycling system. What's absurd is the Region and Municipalities' demand for extremely high levels of separate waste collection, overloading the supply of recycled waste in a market fueled by Conai contributions. Now everyone for themselves."

Because after plastic, waste could be the next step. "After the plastic crisis, there will be a waste crisis," concludes Vardeu, " caused by exactly the opposite: material shortages, sky-high tariffs, unused waste-to-energy plants, and collapsing landfills ."

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