THE‘shadow of a heavy economic autumn extends on Italians’ bills and, casting its darkest cone of shadow, it is not energy supplies, but this time it is the garbage bag, or the TARI. Every year, when the time comes to pay the garbage tax, it feels like watching a movie you’ve already seen with the title: “Increase”. AND, 2025 is no exception. In fact, it increases the dose.
TARI 2025: tax increases
According to the new Report from the Prices & Tariffs Observatory of Cittadinanzattivaa typical family will have to budget 340 euros for urban waste management. That’s 11 euros more than in 2024, a 3.3% increase which confirms a ten-year trend: the Tari rises, slowly but steadily, and knows no pauses. The urban waste management service is therefore confirmed as an increasingly expensive luxury.
An increase that becomes a habit
What is new this year, rather than the increase itself, is the fact that it affects almost everyone. As many as 95 capitals have increased the tariff, while only 14 have managed to reduce it. In the list of the most marked increases stand out Reggio Emilia (+15.1%), Ferrara (+13.8%) and Siena (+12.9%). And although cities such as Modena, Cagliari and Milan have cut their rates this year, their decline remains an isolated exception in a landscape dominated by price increases. The effect on families it is a cost that enters the household budget and increases regularly.
The waste tax that homeowners know well is steadily increasing (Getty)
The tax varies from city to city
Another characteristic feature of the Tari is its absolute variability. In short, the waste tax is not homogeneous throughout Italy. In 2025 the most emblematic case remains Catania, with its 602 euros, an exorbitant figure compared to cities such as, for example, Cremona, which stands at 196 euros.
A gap, that between North-South, which remains evident: in the South the average reaches 385 euros, in the North it stops at 290. Having said that, beyond the differences, the common thread is and remains constant increase. Whether you live in Pisa (557 euros), Genoa (509 euros), Naples (496 euros) or in a much less expensive city like Udine (199 euros), the trend is the same: a little more expensive than last year.
Because TARI continues to grow
The Tari does not rise for just one reason. The increase is rather the result of many factors that change over time: management costs, the slow but continuous improvement of separate waste collection, investments to adapt the systems, the increase in the services required. In other words, it is a tax that lives in the present: grows when the cost of energy increaseswhen national rules change, when administrations expand services or when the waste to be disposed of varies.
And it also lives on the choices of citizens: in the municipalities where the so-called Tarip has been adopted, punctual pricing, i.e. you pay based on the actual quantity of non-recycled waste, unsorted waste has fallen by 18% in three years, with economic and environmental benefits.
How to pay and what to expect in the coming months
All things considered, for families the issue translates into a very simple fact: the TARI 2025 version has a slightly higher bill. And while the Municipalities plan investments, adjustments and new services, for citizens the appointment with the waste tax remains fixed there: a few euros more than the previous year and a deadline to mark on the calendar.
But when to pay the tax? The answer, as always, changes from Municipality to Municipality, because it is the local administrations that establish deadlines and methods. Generally, the request arrives in two or three installments, often between spring and autumnvia the notice sent directly by the institution. Payment takes place almost everywhere with the F24 form, now the standard, or with PagoPA, the national system for payments to the Public Administration. Solutions such as the single installment or the physical counter also remain possible, but are progressively decreasing.