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Four bins and a calendar
Alex is not being slow. Italian waste separation is genuinely demanding, and it is organised by comune rather than nationally, so the categories, the colours of the bags and the collection days all change when you move — which is why Sara, from Lecce, finds that her hard-won knowledge is worthless in Bologna. Many comuni use porta a porta, door-to-door collection on a fixed weekly calendar, meaning a bag put out on the wrong evening is simply not taken. Italy sorts a higher share of its municipal waste than most of Europe, and that result rests on households doing this correctly every week. The flat-share conversation around it is its own institution. Shared flats among students and young workers are the norm rather than a phase, since Italians leave home later than almost anyone in Europe and the ones who do leave are usually moving for study or work rather than for independence. The habit Francesca is following — settle the rota at the start, out loud, with everyone present — is widely understood as the thing that makes it survivable. The alternative she alludes to is also recognisable: the flatmate who says nothing for three months, ne ha abbastanza, and leaves.