Italy maintains its position as Europe's leader in recycling and the utilization of recyclable materials. Italy leads the European list with 137 million tons of recycled waste, accounting for 85.6% of total waste processed (including urban and special waste, as well as inert waste), whereas the EU average is 40.8%. Italy also surpasses the European average in the rate of circular use of materials, with 20.8% of the materials used by industry in 2023 derived from waste recycling. This figure is nearly double the European average of 11.8%, and it has increased from 18.8% in 2019. In comparison, Germany, France, and Spain have a rate of 13.9%, 17.6%, and 8.5%, respectively. This outstanding performance was further validated in 2023 with the recycling of 10,500,000 tons of packaging waste, resulting in a recycling rate of 75.3%. This rate represents an increase of 4.2% from 2022 and surpasses both the 65% by 2025 and 70% by 2030 recycling targets set by Europe. The recycling of municipal waste, particularly through the implementation of the new European calculation method, is less impressive. In 2022, the recycling rate was 49.2%, with a European objective of 55% by 2025, 60% by 2030, and 65% by 2035. This snapshot of Italy’s recycling efforts comes from the 2024 report “Recycling in Italy", which examines 19 recycling sectors.