6. Waste and Circularity
Strong Collection Performance, Persistent Destination Challenges
Waste management is a critical test of whether a tourism destination can translate high visitor demand into manageable environmental and public-service outcomes. In Sardinia, waste systems must serve permanent residents, seasonal workers, tourism businesses, second-home users, day visitors and visitors travelling through ports, airports and public spaces.
The island has achieved strong regional performance in separate collection. In 2024, Sardinia generated 731,075 tonnes of municipal waste, an increase of approximately 9,300 tonnes, or 1.3%, from 2023. Separate collection amounted to 559,094 tonnes, also up by around 7,300 tonnes. The regional separate-collection rate was 76.48%, placing Sardinia third among Italian regions after Emilia-Romagna and Veneto.[sardegnaambiente]
This is a significant institutional strength. It indicates that the regional waste-management system, municipalities, service providers, households and businesses have developed substantial capacity for waste separation.
However, a high separate-collection rate should not be interpreted as a complete measure of circularity or environmental performance. Separate collection records the proportion of municipal waste collected in distinct streams; it does not automatically show the final recycling outcome, the quality of materials, the environmental performance of treatment processes, the prevention of waste generation or the reduction of litter reaching terrestrial and marine environments.
| Waste-management dimension | What the 2024 data show | Remaining destination-management question |
|---|---|---|
| Total municipal waste | 731,075 tonnes generated regionally | How much of the seasonal increase is linked to tourism, second homes and peak visitor periods? |
| Separate collection | 559,094 tonnes collected separately | What share is effectively recycled into secondary materials rather than rejected or downcycled? |
| Separate-collection rate | 76.48% regionally | Which municipalities and tourism areas perform below the regional average during peak season? |
| Residual waste | 171,981 tonnes sent to disposal | Can prevention, reuse, composting and local material recovery reduce this amount? |
| Municipal variation | Data are reported and validated at municipal level | Which local systems are under greatest stress from summer demand? |
| Marine litter | Separate from municipal-waste statistics | What waste reaches beaches, ports, seas and protected areas, and from which sources? |
Tourism-related waste is difficult to quantify precisely because public municipal-waste data do not generally distinguish waste generated by residents from waste generated by accommodation guests, restaurant customers, day visitors, second-home users or cruise and ferry passengers.
This is an important data gap. The growth in recorded tourism activity and the seasonal concentration of visitors make it likely that waste loads increase significantly in certain municipalities and coastal areas during peak periods. However, the paper should not assign a numerical “tourism waste footprint” without monthly local waste data and a transparent methodology.
The same caution applies to plastic waste. Marine litter results from multiple sources: consumer packaging, fishing activity, port operations, illegal dumping, stormwater, poorly managed waste, wastewater and materials transported by currents. It cannot be attributed automatically to tourists, although high visitor activity may increase the importance of prevention, collection capacity, refill systems, reusable-service models and public communication.
Sardinia’s next circular-economy challenge is therefore not only to maintain high separate-collection performance. It is to prevent waste generation, improve material quality, reduce disposable packaging, manage food waste, strengthen reuse and repair systems, and ensure that seasonal tourism does not overwhelm local collection and treatment capacity.
For the visitor economy, practical measures may include:
- Refillable drinking-water systems and reduced dependence on single-use bottles.
- Reuse systems for food-service packaging where operationally feasible.
- Food-waste measurement and prevention in accommodation and restaurants.
- Clear multi-language separation guidance in hotels, rentals, beaches, marinas and public spaces.
- Event-waste standards and supplier requirements.
- Port and marina facilities for vessel waste and fishing gear.
- Procurement policies favouring reusable, recyclable and locally supplied materials.
- Seasonal monitoring of waste per resident-equivalent and per guest-night.
The strategic opportunity is to treat waste not merely as an end-of-pipe municipal service, but as a destination-design issue. Accommodation, food service, events, retail, beach operations, transport gateways and visitor information all influence whether materials become waste, are separated effectively, are reused, or leak into Sardinia’s landscapes and seas.