Reference address: Via della Geologia 31, 30030 Fusina (Venice)

Website: www.gruppoveritas.it (only in Italian), www.ecoprogettovenezia.it (only in Italian)

Company profile

Ecoprogetto Venezia S.r.l. was established in 1998. It is a public/private company run by VERITAS S.p.A., and it manages the treatment, valorization and disposal cycle of the waste produced in the province of Venice, with the aim of guaranteeing the self-sufficiency of the territory served.
Veritas S.p.A. is the first multi-utility in the Veneto region in terms of size and revenues, and one of the biggest in Italy: it is the eighth largest integrated water cycle service and the fifth largest environmental service, behind companies also operating in energy management yet in more populated areas.
The company serves all the municipalities within the province of Venice and part of the province of Treviso, in addition to the more than 30 million tourists visiting Venice, the coast and the surrounding areas each year.
Veritas provides its services (many of which are certified) to citizens, firms and the territory in general. It operates in the integrated water and environmental services cycle, and it sells and distributes energy through its subsidiaries. Furthermore, it provides urban, community, territorial and industrial services and handles cemeteries, wholesale markets and environmental reclamation work.

Since its beginning, Ecoprogetto Venezia has shown great interest in the protection of the environment through the planning of a plant that is able to produce high quality and high calorific value RDF (refuse derived fuel) to be used without altering the very delicate equilibrium of the Venice area. For this reason, a system employing the existing thermal cycle and energy recovery from waste collected by Veritas (produced by around 860,000 citizens in 75% of the Province of Venice and more than 40 million tourists) was studied. This solution was also aimed at reducing the quantity of waste going into landfill.
This project led to the formation of a cooperation with ENEL, and a schedule agreement was signed in 1998 between the competent territorial institutions (Veneto Region, Province of Venice, Municipality of Venice, Ecoprogetto Venezia S.r.l. and ENEL S.p.A.).
After the first period of testing, with rigorous environmental controls by institutions in charge of the task, and after obtaining the integrated environmental authorization signed by the Ministry of the Environment on 25 November 2008, cooperation with ENEL officially commenced. The authorization provided for the use of RDF in co-combustion with coal, up to a maximum of 70,000 tons/year, for electric energy production in the nearby Palladio thermal plant.
During the years, the quantity of RDF used allowed the reduction of non-renewable natural fossil resources (coal) and waste - which would have been otherwise transferred to other plants - with consequent environmental issues. The total emission reduction amounts to 65,520 tons/year of CO2 (936 kg CO2/tons).
Considering the positive results obtained thus far, the contract with ENEL has been renewed in 2012. It includes:

• An increase in thermal input by up to 10%, as well as the possible increase of the quantity used in co-combustion by up to 105,000 tons/year (leading to relevant environmental benefits for the entire community within the province and the municipality of Venice);
• A three-year contract (2013-2015) that could be extended by another year (at the parties' discretion);
• The maximum amount of RDF to be used during the three-year period is 210,000 tons;
• The structure of the contract is the same as the old one, in order to better harmonize the operational activities;
• Environmental monitoring continuity.

The contract renewal also ensues the development of proper instruments of communication regarding the ecological footprint of RDF valorization.
Thanks to the agreement with ENEL and the recovery of separated waste (among other reasons) only 6% of waste goes to landfill, a performance equal with Sweden.
Ecoprogetto Venezia manages the air, water and operational by-products control systems, guaranteeing the analysis required by the integrated environmental authorization, as well as the technical activities to improve the technology used in the production cycle.