{"id":16485,"date":"2026-05-16T06:40:15","date_gmt":"2026-05-16T06:40:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/16485\/"},"modified":"2026-05-16T06:40:15","modified_gmt":"2026-05-16T06:40:15","slug":"rome-starts-to-build-giant-e1-billion-waste-to-energy-plant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/16485\/","title":{"rendered":"Rome starts to build giant \u20ac1 billion waste-to-energy plant"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rome mayor says plant will “pollute less than a busy street”, amid protests from local residents.<\/p>\n

Rome has begun construction of a major new\u00a0waste-to-energy incinerator<\/a>, with mayor Roberto Gualtieri staging a groundbreaking ceremony at the Santa Palomba industrial site on Friday.<\/p>\n

The facility, which represents an investment of \u20ac1 billion, is designed to process 600,000 tonnes of non-recyclable, residual waste per year.<\/p>\n

Located near Pomezia along the Via Ardeatina on the southern outskirts of the city, the plant is set to receive its first waste deliveries in November 2029.<\/p>\n

“Ultra-safe”<\/p>\n

Gualtieri called it “a historic day”, hailing the plant as “the most modern and advanced in Europe”.<\/p>\n

He insisted it would be “ultra-safe”, constantly monitored, and no more polluting than a congested road in Rome.<\/p>\n

Describing it as “strategic, fundamental, and long-awaited”,\u00a0the city said<\/a>\u00a0the plan would enable Rome to “to close its waste cycle in a stable, efficient, and sustainable manner”.<\/p>\n

Alternative to landfills<\/p>\n

The project is a centrepiece of Rome’s 2023 waste management plan, which aims to achieve a 70 per cent separate waste collection rate and eliminate reliance on landfill.<\/p>\n

Until now the Italian capital has been shipping residual rubbish to disposal sites elsewhere in Italy, and even abroad, at considerable expense.<\/p>\n

“Rome will no longer depend on landfills or facilities located elsewhere,” Gualtieri said.<\/p>\n

Protests and legal challenges<\/p>\n

Over the last few years, a network of associations, neighbourhood committees and local administrators has formed to oppose the incincerator, and legal challenges have been mounted through the administrative courts.<\/p>\n

While the ground-breaking ceremony was taking place on Friday, dozens of protesters gathered, and were reportedly kept at bay by police.<\/p>\n

Critics have raised concerns about health impacts, harm to the surrounding agricultural landscape, and the risk that a large incineration facility will blunt the impetus to push recycling rates higher.<\/p>\n

The choice of a site on the border with Pomezia is also seen by some as penalising residents of the city’s southern quadrant.<\/p>\n

The plant<\/p>\n

The project is being developed by RenewRome, a consortium comprising Acea Ambiente, Suez Italy, Kanadevia Inova, Vianini Lavori and RMB.<\/p>\n

It will generate a combined 65 MW of thermal and electrical energy – enough to power around 200,000 households – and will convert residual ash into materials for use in construction.<\/p>\n

Environmental controls are designed to exceed EU standards, with a continuous monitoring programme covering air quality, soil, water, vegetation and noise. The city says the facility will have a near-zero impact on the local water table, meeting its needs through rainwater harvesting and the reuse of treated wastewater.<\/p>\n

The site will include a Circular Resources Park open to residents, with research rooms, co-working spaces, an experimental greenhouse, public gardens, and a panoramic tower over 70 metres tall.<\/p>\n

Waste will be transported to Santa Palomba by rail, arriving on two overnight freight trains to minimise disruption.<\/p>\n

A separate \u20ac31 million road improvement plan has been drawn up for the surrounding area, covering upgrades to Via di Porta Medaglia, a stretch of Via Ardeatina, and the Pomezia\u2013Santa Palomba axis.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rome mayor says plant will “pollute less than a busy street”, amid protests from local residents. Rome has…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":16486,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[12289,5,27,12290],"class_list":{"0":"post-16485","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rome","8":"tag-incinerator","9":"tag-italy","10":"tag-rome","11":"tag-rubbish"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16485","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16485"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16485\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16486"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16485"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16485"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16485"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}