History of ECODECO

From 70's to 80's

Ecodeco® was born in Lombardy in the second half of the 1970’s, as an economic consequence of early environmental legislation. Its goal was to assist firms in modifying their productive processes in order to obtain fewer by-products, or by-products that could then be used by other firms.

Starting with the simple realisation that:

• The term “Waste” represents an economic concept rather than a physical characteristic, and it indicates a good that is traded for a negative price, meaning that its price is paid by those who furnish them rather than those who receive them
• “Industrial waste” includes by-products that are not valorised, and therefore the search for a solution starts with the study of productive processes

Since the early 1980’s, Ecodeco® has implemented an efficient modular system of activities aiming to valorise industrial waste, coordinated by Modulo Zero, which manages the cadastral registry of industrial waste and their movements. This system has made it possible to recover or correctly dispose of almost 20 million tons of industrial waste in the last 20 years.
 

From 90's to 2000

Ever since the 1990’s, as a consequences of the possibilities offered by Lombardy regional law 21/93, which allows firms to make innovative proposals in the municipal solid waste sector, Ecodeco® has developed the Biocubi® Process, which allows for the elimination of the degradable component of the residual fraction of municipal solid waste after separate recovery, and use its energy to produce Amabilis®, a dry, stable, easily transportable waste with a higher energy content. The availability of Amabilis® is the source for a cluster of interesting innovations that allow for the efficient use of energy and materials found in the residual fraction, and it has led to the creation of an efficient system for the energy valorisation of municipal solid waste.
 

Nowdays

The Sistema Ecodeco® for increasing the value of the Residual Fraction of Municipal Waste, after source separation, eliminated old systems and developed an approach so different as to require a new language. This is now in common usage.
The high level of consumer goods thrown away after use as waste, constitute the content of Secondary Energy Reservoirs. The size of these is related to the popula-tion supplying them.
To overcome the inefficiencies arising from the dispersed nature of such reservoirs the Sistema Ecodeco® has developed a system of installations including: the Intelligent Transfer Stations (ITS®), the Activated Bioreactors and the integrated plants.
As of the end of 2007, Sistema Ecodeco® represents a combination of proven success, with concepts, procedures, and methods that are so innovative they have given rise to a new language, and is a key player in the waste management field.
Therefore, the period of growth based exclusively on innovative development has now ended, and given way to a new period focusing in part on expansion.
This new era starts with the incorporation into A2A of AEM, ASM Brescia, AMSA and ECODECO®, which has created the largest Italian group operating in the waste val-orisation sector. The Group combines its activities providing services to millions of people with a unique structure focused on planning, developing and implementing innovative systems and technologies both for the Group and for other operators in Italy and abroad.