L’importanza della leva fiscale per promuovere la riduzione degli sprechi alimentari nel contesto dell’economia circolare

An economic system in which industrialized countries waste an enormous amount of food, in addition to being conspicuously inefficient and economically unsustainable, contributes to generating food insecurity in less industrialized countries, and to compromising environmental resources and the climate of the entire planet; the irrational (or rather useless) use of the natural resources (water and raw materials) and energy necessary to produce, process, store, transport and sell wasted food, produces environmental consumption which is accompanied by avoidable greenhouse gas production, as well as to the increase in the production of waste which, in turn, will have to be disposed of with further expenditure of energy and resources In the general model that recognizes the fight against food waste as one of the main directions towards the promotion of food sustainability, the analysis of the Italian regulatory context appears particularly interesting with particular attention to the innovations introduced by law n.166/2016, the so-called anti-waste law, or Gadda Law from the name of its promoter. The Gadda law in fact preserves the environment by enhancing the tax instrument according to different and broader purposes, supporting the good practices of businesses and citizens through the introduction of incentives and benefits, rather than by introducing new environmental taxes: the new circular taxation model it is characterized by not subjecting waste to taxation and consequently encouraging reuse and recycling, but by achieving the same objectives in a mediated way, supporting cases that limit the quantity of waste to be treated.