Vatican City (VA)
Vatican City — the Holy See — is the world's smallest independent state and the spiritual centre of the Roman Catholic Church.
Recycling & Waste in Vatican City
Bin system, bottle deposits, special disposal, and common mistakes.
Vatican City manages its own waste and recycling through the Governorate's internal services — Vatican City is too small for the municipal waste infrastructure that applies in Italian cities. Within Vatican walls, waste separation and recycling are managed institutionally. Vatican employees living in Rome (Prati, Borgo, Trionfale) follow Rome's Ama (Azienda Municipale Ambiente) differentiated waste collection system. Rome's recycling is improving under Ama's PortaPorta (door-to-door) collection model introduced progressively across neighbourhoods including Prati. Vatican City has committed to environmental sustainability since Pope Francis's landmark encyclical Laudato Si' (2015), including reducing single-use plastics within Vatican territory since 2019.
The Bin System
Organic Waste
Brown (bin with brown lid)Organico / Umido
- ✓Food scraps: fruit and vegetable peels, leftovers
- ✓Coffee grounds and paper filters
- ✓Tea bags
- ✓Eggshells
- ✓Bread, pasta, rice (small quantities)
- ✓Tissues and paper napkins
- ✓Small garden waste (leaves, flowers)
- ✓Biodegradable bags (sacchetti compostabili, required for organic waste in Rome)
- ✗Meat and fish in large quantities (attract pests)
- ✗Oils and cooking fats
- ✗Nappies and hygiene products
- ✗Plastic bags of any type
- ✗Glass, metals, or packaging of any kind
Paper & Cardboard
White or light grey (bin with white/light lid)Carta e Cartone
- ✓Newspapers and magazines
- ✓Cardboard boxes (flattened)
- ✓Cardboard packaging, paper bags
- ✓Books and catalogues
- ✓Office paper
- ✓Envelopes (including with plastic windows in most Rome collection points)
- ✗Greasy pizza boxes — indifferenziato (residual) bin
- ✗Tissues and paper towels — organico
- ✗Waxed or laminated paper — indifferenziato
- ✗Carbon paper, photo paper — indifferenziato
Glass
Green (bin with green lid)Vetro
- ✓Glass bottles (all colours mixed together in Rome)
- ✓Glass jars and containers
- ✓Lids removed (metal lids go in imballaggi)
- ✗Ceramic, porcelain — indifferenziato
- ✗Crystal — indifferenziato
- ✗Window glass (mirrors, flat glass) — special disposal
- ✗Light bulbs — special disposal point
Plastics & Metals
Yellow (bin with yellow lid)Plastica e Metalli (Imballaggi)
- ✓Plastic bottles, containers, trays, packaging
- ✓Plastic bags and film
- ✓Aluminium and tin cans
- ✓Metal lids and bottle caps
- ✓Aluminium foil (clean)
- ✓Tetra Pak / composite drink cartons
- ✓Polystyrene packaging (clean, not soiled with food)
- ✗Non-packaging plastics (toys, buckets) — indifferenziato
- ✗Contaminated/soiled plastics with large food residue
- ✗Glass containers
- ✗Batteries — special disposal
Residual / Non-Recyclable
Grey or dark (bin with grey lid)Indifferenziato / Rifiuto Residuo
- ✓Everything that cannot go in the other bins
- ✓Nappies and hygiene products
- ✓Contaminated packaging
- ✓Broken ceramics and porcelain
- ✓Dust bags from vacuum cleaners
- ✓Grease-soaked packaging
- ✓CDs, DVDs
- ✗Electronics — bring to Ama Centro di Raccolta
- ✗Batteries — dedicated battery bins
- ✗Medicines — pharmacy return
- ✗Hazardous materials (paint, solvents) — Ama special collection
- ✗Recyclables that belong in other bins
Vuoto a Rendere (Italian bottle deposit) — Bottle Deposit System
Italy has had a limited deposit system for glass bottles (mostly artisan beer, mineral water) for decades, but a national cauzione (deposit) for single-use plastic and aluminium is being phased in across Italy. As of 2026, a national DRS (Deposit Return Scheme) is under legislative implementation. For Vatican employees in Rome: glass bottles from certain suppliers carry a small deposit (€0.10–0.25); supermarkets (Carrefour, Conad) handle returns informally for their own-brand bottles. Most standard beverage containers in Rome: recycled via the giallo (yellow) imballaggi bin.
Glass wine/beer artisan bottles: €0.10–0.25 cauzione where applicable. Plastic PET and aluminium: Italy has not enacted a national DRS as of mid-2026 — the enabling legislation remains in parliament with no confirmed launch date.
For deposit bottles: return to the supermarket or shop where purchased. For all other containers: sort into the appropriate Ama bin (giallo for plastic/metal, verde for glass). Ama PortaPorta door-to-door collection in Prati: check the collection calendar at amaroma.it or call Ama call centre (06 4514 1) for your specific street schedule.
Special Disposal
Ama Centri di Raccolta (collection centres) across Rome — nearest to Vatican area: Isola Ecologica at Via Gregorio VII (10 min walk from Vatican) or Isola Ecologica Via Baldo degli Ubaldi. Also: large electronics retailers (MediaWorld, Euronics) are required by Italian law to accept old electronics for free on a 1-for-1 basis when purchasing new.
RAEE (Rifiuti di Apparecchiature Elettriche ed Elettroniche): includes phones, computers, small appliances, lamps, cables. Remove batteries before disposal where possible.
Collection boxes at supermarkets (Carrefour, Conad, Esselunga) and pharmacies. Yellow Ama battery drop-off bins at some public locations. Never in any standard waste bin.
Both single-use (pile usa e getta) and rechargeable batteries (ricaricabili). Italian environmental law prohibits disposal in standard waste streams.
Return unused or expired medicines to any farmacia (pharmacy). Farmacie Vaticane accepts returns from Vatican employees. Do not mix with any household waste — pharmaceutical contamination of groundwater is an environmental offence.
Sharps (aghi, siringhe): use a sharps container (disponibile in farmacia) and return to pharmacy for disposal.
Ama Centri di Raccolta or Ama's periodic mobile collection (Eco-Sportello mobile services — check amaroma.it). Include: paint, varnish, solvents, motor oil, pesticides.
Never pour paint, oil, or chemicals down the drain — serious environmental and legal offence in Italy.
Contenitori abiti usati (clothing collection bins) distributed across Rome — operated by Caritas, CRI (Red Cross), and commercial operators. Check locations on humanavintage.it or caritas.roma.it.
Clean, wearable clothes and shoes only for donation bins. Non-wearable textiles: bring to Ama Centro di Raccolta.
Ama collection points (green dedicated collection containers in some Rome supermarket car parks). Never pour down the sink — blocks Rome's ancient sewers.
Collect in sealed containers (old bottles). Some Ama Centri di Raccolta accept directly.
Bulk Waste
Ingombranti (bulky waste) in Rome: large items like furniture and mattresses. Two options: (1) Call Ama (06 4514 1) to book a free street-side collection — items placed outside your building entrance on the scheduled day. (2) Bring items yourself to an Ama Centro di Raccolta. Do not leave bulky items on the street without booking — fine €168–620 for illegal dumping (abbandono rifiuti). Within Vatican City, the Governorate Technical Services handles bulk waste for institutional and residential areas.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- ! Putting pizza boxes with significant grease in the carta (paper) bin — they must go in indifferenziato.
- ! Mixing glass with plastics in the giallo bin — glass goes in the verde bin.
- ! Not using biodegradable bags (sacchetti compostabili) for organico — Rome requires compostable bags for food waste.
- ! Disposing of batteries in any standard bin — serious environmental offence.
- ! Leaving non-organic material in the organico bin — contaminates the entire batch.
- ! Putting electronics in the indifferenziato bin — take to Ama Centro di Raccolta or retailer.
- ! Not rinsing containers before recycling — heavily soiled containers contaminate recyclable batches.
Fines & Enforcement
Rome recycling violations: Ama can report violations to the Polizia Municipale (Vigili Urbani). Fines for incorrect waste disposal: €168–620. Fine for dumping waste outside designated bins or on the street: €168–620. Chronic violations in apartment buildings can result in shared surcharges applied to the entire condominium. Vatican City internal violations are handled by Governorate Environmental Services.
Practical Tips
- → Download the Ama Roma app or visit amaroma.it — check your street's PortaPorta collection schedule and download your area's Calendario della raccolta (collection calendar).
- → Ama's call centre (06 4514 1) handles requests for special collections and answers questions in Italian.
- → Prati's Ama PortaPorta schedule: organico and indifferenziato are typically collected 3–4 times weekly; carta and imballaggi/vetro 1–2 times weekly. Check your building's specific schedule.
- → Vatican City supermarket products are duty-free — stock your household with bulk purchases to reduce Rome-side shopping waste.
- → Vatican employees committed to Laudato Si' principles may wish to connect with the Laudato Si' Action Platform community — practical sustainability action guides available at laudatosiactionplatform.org.