Minimum Environmental Criteria and the Decree for the Award of Urban Waste Collection and Transport Services

On 7 April 2025, the Italian Ministry of the Environment and Energy Security (the “Ministry”) issued the decree outlining the new Minimum Environmental Criteria (the “CAMs”) for the award of urban waste collection and transportation services, street cleaning and sweeping service, and the supply of related vehicles, containers and bags for urban waste collection (the “Decree”). The Decree - published on the Italian Official Gazette No. 92/2025 - marks a significant advancement in the public procurement system for environmental services by implementing the Action Plan for the Environmental Sustainability of Consumption in the Public Administration Sector, which was adopted by ministerial decree of 3 August 2023.

In recent years, urban waste management has become increasingly important to Italian and European environmental regulation. For this reason, the Ministry periodically updates the environmental requirements that public administrations must meet while providing services such as urban waste collection and transport and, consequently, must require to their contractors through tender documentation. CAMs are defined for each stage of the purchasing process, with the goal of selecting the optimal design solution, product or service from an environmental standpoint throughout the life cycle, while taking market availability into account. The effectiveness of CAMs has been ensured thanks to the provisions contained in the Public Contracts Code (Legislative Decree of 31 March 2023, No. 36, the “IPPC”) and, in particular, to Article 57 paragraph 2 of IPPC, which requires that energy and environmental sustainability criteria, such as CAMs, must be included in the "technical specifications" and "contract clauses” of calls for tenders in order to promote responsible management of public resources. 

The new Decree will come into force on 18 June 2025, repealing the previous decree dated 23 June 2022, and all public tenders for the collection and transport of urban waste will have to comply with the new CAMs. The Decree covers quite a comprehensive range of services: (i) urban waste collection and transportation; (ii) street cleaning and sweeping service and other urban hygiene services; (iii) supply of containers and bags for urban waste collection; (iv) supply, leasing, rental and lease of vehicles and equipment for waste collection and transportation. 

The overall objective is to make each stage of waste management more sustainable, reduce environmental impacts of transports and promote technological innovation and recycle. The CAMs are added to the technical projection requirements already laid down in sectorial legislation and need to be adapted to specific local conditions.

One of the most important aspects of these CAMs is that they are not just a list of obligations to be met, but they also include rewarding criteria, creating positive incentives for contractors who go above and beyond the minimum requirements. In other terms, if a company offers even more innovative and sustainable solutions than the minimum required, it can obtain a higher score during the tender phase. 

The Decree also establishes rules for verifying compliance to CAMs. Contracting authorities must conduct audits throughout the execution of the contract. These include on-site inspections, periodic reports, documentary checks to ensure continued compliance. Meanwhile, execution directors will be conducting their own periodic compliance checks through inspections, technical documentation and annual reports. Moreover, contractors need to gather and submit data on regular basis which serves the dual purpose of identifying critical issues and opportunities for improvement. 

The Decree also updates some technical definitions, such as that of “clean vehicle” or “collection centre”, to be aligned with the most recent European directives and Italian legislation. Moreover, it introduces new contractual clauses that oblige awarding companies to maintain high standards of environmental protection for the entire duration of the contract.

In conclusion, the new CAMs for the collection and transportation of urban waste represent a fundamental tool to make public services more sustainable, promoting environmentally conscious choices both by administrations and by companies operating in the sector.

This article was written by Arianna Moreschini, Associate, Italy.