Rome's environment agency AMA will begin separating urban waste from green bins into dry and wet categories starting in March at a new recycling plant in Rocca Cencia between Via Prenestina and Via Casilina about seven kilometres beyond the Gran Raccordo Anulare (GRA). There are already facilities for the sorting of glass, metal and plastic at Rocca Cencia. Dry waste will be turned into fuel, while wet waste, composed mainly of organic biodegradable materials, will undergo a process to turn it into a type of soil that can be used in areas of poor-quality earth or for quarry in-fills. Various materials will be extracted even from inert waste that cannot be pulverised and will be used, for example, as the base layer under new asphalt roads.

The plant cost 24 million and took two years to build. AMA believes the new system will reduce the use of the citys existing refuse disposal sites by 80 per cent by the end of the year.

Currently Rome recycles about 21 per cent of its waste, up from 5 per cent four years ago.