MSW selective collection and tourism

The present paper concerns the interaction between tourism and selective collection of municipal solid waste. Data of an Italian province are shown, zooming on five municipalities characterised by high presences of tourists along the year. Information on the selective collection organisation is presented (also based on the presence of eco-centers). The most tourist months are both in winter and in summer and their effect is seen in the increase of the factions connected with the tourists meals and also the increase of residual municipal solid waste. The monthly peaks of waste generation are very high, but the final results in term of selective collection efficiency seem to be not affected (being even higher than 80%, a value that is better than the one obtained at provincial scale). Also the presence of decentralised landfills did not discourage the source separation that changed significantly in about a decade. Moreover, the trend of tourists towards shorter periods of holiday is not affecting selective collection; possibly because they are used to come back in the same municipality, where they have already learned the local principles of source separation.