Waste management and financial performance: evidence from Italian companies

This article deals with Italian companies operating in collection, treatment and disposal of municipal solid waste. The aim is to analyse the profitability of these companies and try to understand whether this relates to waste management best practices, in particular separate collection. The empirical analysis carried out on a population of 298 Italian companies enabled us to study the profitability of this sector. However, combining this information with that concerning separate waste collection, a clear relationship – both positive and negative – is not identifiable.