Biomethane and Compost Production by Anaerobic Digestion of Organic Waste: Suggestions for Rural Communities in Southern Italy

The sharp increase in rural tourism brings, on the one side, economic and social benefits among rural communities but, on the other, contributes to environmental challenges, specifically waste generation and natural resource consumption. From the ecological perspective, several pathways have been developed from local and global communities, such as prevention, reuse, recycling and energy recovery. The present research, by considering the need to boost separate collection and valorize organic waste among rural communities, evaluates the performance of a combined anaerobic digestion and composting plant in Southern Italy. The purpose is to investigate the advantages and disadvantages of collecting organic waste in rural areas and recovering it into biomethane, digestate and compost. First, the research develops the material flow analysis of a real, accessible and available anaerobic digestion and composting plant in Southern Italy. Secondly, on the basis of the results obtained, the research calculates the biomethane, digestate and compost potential in Southern Italy, considering the amount of organic waste produced in 14 rural communities identified as the most beautiful villages in Italy. Last, the research compares the advantages and disadvantages of producing biomethane through anaerobic digestion or resorting to community composting in rural areas. It results that the biomethane and compost potential through anaerobic digestion is 423,854 kg and 954,896 kg, respectively, but significant financial investments must be allocated in order to allow the municipalities to enhance the logistics and the separate collection facilities. The research highlights possible strategies under the circular economy lens to boost sustainability in rural areas, focusing on biomethane and compost production and providing policy implications in light of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP) and the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).