Italy has already surpassed its 2030 targets for the recycling of compostable bioplastics

27 May 2024 – Italy has already surpassed its 2025 and 2030 targets for the organic recycling of compostable bioplastics. The recycling rate, excluding rejects, was 56.9% of the total placed on the market (44,338 tonnes recycled out of 77,900 placed on the market). The share of the population covered by agreements signed with municipalities or designated waste collection operators is up 10 percentage points compared with the previous year and covers almost three quarters of the Italian population. A total of over €9.4 million was paid out to municipal councils and the companies responsible for separate waste collection. This is a snapshot of the key results in the annual report on its 2023 activities produced by Biorepack, the Italian national consortium for the organic recycling of compostable bioplastic packaging, presented today in Milan at the meeting of consortium members.

“The 2023 results confirm how effective our work has been and demonstrate the importance of building alliances and synergies with the bodies responsible for waste collection throughout Italy. In this way we can provide better services, and above all enhance the value of compostable organic matter, a precious resource that can be returned to the soil as compost, helping to combat degradation, desertification and our dependence on chemical fertilisers,” said Biorepack president, Marco Versari.

To calculate the 2023 recycling results, Biorepack this year took as the reference value the official figure quoted in the Municipal Waste Report published by ISPRA (Institute for Environmental Protection and Research) in December 2023, even though it referred to 2022 (the last official data available). In that report, the amount of municipal food waste processed in organic recycling plants came to 5 million tonnes, whereas last year, to calculate the 2022 recycling result, an estimate of 5.3 million tonnes, based on the calculations of the Italian Composting and Biogas Association (CIC), was taken to calculate the 2022 recycling result.                                  

The lower quantity of municipal food waste used as the baseline therefore led to a downward adjustment of the 2022 compostable bioplastic recycling figure, from 60.7% to 58.3%. In addition, in this year’s report Biorepack based its calculations on official ISPRA data, assuming that the amount of food waste processed in plants in 2023 will be the same as in 2022. The 2023 recycling result may be adjusted in December 2024, when ISPRA publishes its 2023 Municipal Waste Report.

“The percentages have been amended to reflect the increased accuracy of data available to Biorepack and do not change the underlying point: organic recycling results for compostable bioplastics are positive and confirm the effectiveness of the model used in Italy to recycle organic waste, which – let’s not forget – represents over 35% of all waste produced in Italian homes. Combining compostable bioplastics and food waste is the most efficient, effective and economical way of maximising the use of precious raw materials, which become compost for use by farmers instead of ending up in landfill or incinerators,” said Versari.

The negative impact of non-compostable materials                                  

However, one aspect in particular requires further attention: total recycling in 2023 was slightly lower than in 2022 (amended as above) and this reduction is due to more bioplastics being rejected: 17.3% of the bioplastic entering organic recycling plants was discarded from recycling for a number of reasons. The most important of these is the significant presence of “non-compostable materials” (NCM): waste consisting mainly of conventional plastics, glass and metals that have to be removed from treatment plants using complex and costly separation processes. These processes eliminate compostable matter, mainly kitchen and garden waste, and unfortunately also compostable bioplastics.

“Every kilogram of NCM that has to be separated out also removes 1.65 kg of compostable matter. The recycling rate for bioplastics would be much higher if food waste contained less extraneous matter. This is an area where all sector operators must focus their efforts,” added Versari. “Biorepack will be committed to encouraging the development and spread of good practices to improve recycling results for the entire compostable materials sector, including packaging.”

Membership on the rise. Boom in applications in the Islands                                          

In collaboration with its local consortium partners, Biorepack has been developing communications programmes about the separate collection of food waste and compostable items. Membership numbers have increased significantly: in 2023, the number of municipalities served was 4,624, or 58.5% of all Italian municipalities, up by 11 percentage points compared with the previous year. Similar growth was registered in the population served, more than 43.6 million citizens in 2023, or 74% of the population (compared with 37.8 million citizens or 64.4% of the population in 2022).

It was particularly rewarding to see a reduction in the gap between the North and the South, which although still substantial, is starting to narrow. It is worth highlighting the result for the Islands, where the population served soared from 29% in 2022 to 52% in 2023. However, the best-performing region was again the North-East, where affiliated municipalities reached 83% of the total, serving 90% of the population. There was also significant growth in North-West (where the share of affiliated municipalities rose from 53% to 77%, and the population served from 65% to 87%), and the Centre (affiliated municipalities up from 44% to 51%; population served up from 70% to 75%).

Payments of €9.4 million were made to Biorepack’s partners in 2023 to cover the cost of the collection, transport and processing of compostable bioplastic packaging disposed of together with organic waste (a slight increase on the €9.3 million paid out in 2022).

Education and communication                                                                  

Biorepack worked closely with consortium members in 2023 in developing communications initiatives to help local authorities raise awareness about the collective and environmental value of food waste and compostable packaging. The second edition of the “Local communication competition” was held to provide financial support for campaigns run by local authorities, with total financing of €200,000. A judging panel with representatives from ANCI and Biorepack selected the 15 best projects submitted by consortium members in various areas of the country. This allowed the projects to reach 2 million citizens and over 50,000 students through a series of specially devised initiatives.                                                 

Biorepack built on the projects devised by the regions by directly developing a number of communications initiatives. One particularly effective project was the integrated campaign for TV, radio, digital, print and social media – “Throwing in” – developed with the Connexia agency, which won the Engage Spot Parade award in June 2023. It was broadcast on RAI, Mediaset, CairoRCS Media, SKY, Warner Bros, Discovery and Netflix TV channels, as well as on GEDI Gruppo Editoriale and CNR Media radio stations, on the Google and Meta platforms and in the leading Italian newspapers and periodicals.

During the year Biorepack continued work on developing a logo to make it easier for consumers to recognise compostable bioplastic packaging that satisfies all the regulatory requirements. The goal is to make it even easier to tell bioplastics apart from conventional plastics, to ensure they are disposed of with household food waste. This process was recently completed and an application has been filed to register the consortium’s logo.

Initiatives to combat illegal packaging

Just as important for optimising the collection and recycling of bioplastics are initiatives designed to combat illegal activities. Unfortunately this problem is widespread, as there are still vast quantities of packaging – mainly shopping bags – made from conventional or counterfeit plastics that do not comply with the mandatory technical and environment standards. Besides causing economic damage to the sector, through unfair competition and increased industrial costs, such illicit activities have a clearly negative impact on the environment. Biorepack has taken a number of steps to address this problem, including developing a platform together with the Assobioplastiche trade association. This is a platform on which companies and the general public can report unlawful activities, allowing the Consortium to carry out the necessary checks and legal investigations before filing a complaint with the relevant authorities.

In recent weeks, a memorandum of understanding was signed with Assobioplastiche and with the Italian and Belgian branches of TÜV AUSTRIA, an international group which is one of the best-known certification bodies for compostable products. The goal is to share data and information which will improve initiatives to control and combat the proliferation of fake biodegradable shopping bags and packaging. Thanks to this agreement, Assobioplastiche and Biorepack will provide information to the two branches of TÜV AUSTRIA on unlawful practices involving compostable bioplastic products displaying conformity marks issued by TÜV AUSTRIA. The Austrian group will provide a list of its certified products and of the misleading and improper use of its marks. This agreement will help protect citizens and consolidate the sector for producers that comply with the regulations while facing unfair competition from others who bend the rules.

“An organisation like Biorepack supports the whole national system,” added Versari. “On the one hand, with its performance improving year after year, it allows Italy to remain at the forefront of recycling among European states; on the other, it promotes the Italian organic recycling model throughout the world.”

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Barabino & Partners S.p.A.

Serena Galdo
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Mob: +39 345.14.64.356                      

Domenico Lofano
d.lofano@barabino.it
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