Recycling of compostable bioplastics soars 2030 target already surpassed

Milan, 29 May 2023 – Italy with its commitment to send compostable bioplastics for organic recycling is eight years ahead of the legal obligations! The amount of packaging recycled in Italy’s approximately 155 processing plants now stands at 60.7% (46,600 tonnes compared with the 76,800 tonnes put on the market, almost 9% more than in 2021). This result is ten percentage points higher than the target set for 2025 (50%), and even more importantly, five percentage points higher than the 2030 target (55%). This is the most striking result in the annual report on its 2022 activities produced by BIOREPACK, the Italian national consortium for the organic recycling of compostable bioplastic packaging.

“This result is a source of great pride for the whole sector,” said BIOREPACK President Marco Versari. “Already managing to reach and better the 2030 target, and only 18 months after our consortium came into being, shows how committed our organisation is and demonstrates the virtuous synergy that we have created with public authorities and the operators designated to manage waste collection.”

* excluding rejects

The results could have been even better if the kitchen waste collected had contained fewer impurities. However, the presence of non-compostable materials (especially products and packaging made of conventional plastics, glass and metals), incorrectly disposed of with household food waste, is a serious problem for waste collection and has a negative impact on recycling results. And removing this extraneous matter also leads to some of the compostable bioplastics received by the plants being eliminated, where the total in 2022 was around 14%.

Numerous positive figures

The 2022 report, presented today in Milan at the meeting of BIOREPACK consortium members, contains many other significant numbers: total member companies – including producers, processors, users and recyclers – reached 218 (+8% on the previous year). In addition, at 31 December 2022 no fewer than 353 partnership applications had been received, bringing the number of municipalities now served to a total of 3,777 (47.8% of all Italian municipalities) and representing 38 million inhabitants, or 64.4% of the population (3% more than in 2021).

Consortium partners also enjoy considerable financial benefits. Thanks to their partnership with BIOREPACK, in 2022 they received payments of €9.3 million to cover the costs of collecting, transporting and processing compostable bioplastic packaging disposed of together with organic waste (€1.8 million more than in 2021).

Concern over differences between the regions in partnership agreements

“These figures are undoubtedly positive, but they are only a starting point on our path towards quickly reaching other targets,” warned Versari. “The discrepancies from region to region are still too pronounced, even though separate collection of municipal food waste (including bioplastics) has been mandatory throughout Italy since 1 January 2022.”

The 2022 report shows that, of the individual regions, the best performances were recorded by Valle d’Aosta (100% of the population covered), Emilia-Romagna (99%), Veneto (97%), Tuscany (94%) and Puglia (93%). But the percentage of municipalities affiliated with BIOREPACK ranges from 81% in the North East to just 23% in the Islands. Similarly, partnership agreements cover 90% of the population in the North East regions, while in the South they include only 53% of the population, dropping to just 30% in the Islands.

“We are working day after day on closing this gap in the southern regions,” added Versari. “It should be remembered that by signing partnership agreements, municipalities gain access to significant funding, which can help local areas improve the quality and quantity of their separate food waste collection.”

Helping the public to recognise compostable bioplastic packaging

In order to raise awareness among local authorities and help the general public to correctly dispose of compostable bioplastic packaging together with food waste, BIOREPACK has made significant investments in communications campaigns and information and education initiatives. The very latest initiative was presented to the consortium members’ meeting and is an integrated advertising campaign for TV, radio, the press, social and digital media produced by the Connexia agency. The TV spots are 15 seconds long and will be broadcast on the RAI, Mediaset, CairoRCS Media, SKY, Warner Bros, Discovery and Netflix channels until June 17, while the radio version is 30 seconds long and may be heard on the airwaves of the GEDI Publishing Group and the CNR circuit. With the spot also featuring on the Google and Meta platforms, in the coming months advertising pages will be included in Italy’s leading magazines and newspapers.

In addition, addressing the concern of helping consumers recognise compostable bioplastic packaging, in 2022 the Consortium launched a project to study the feasibility of introducing a mark to provide an immediate and unmistakable indication showing (via a pictogram) that compostable bioplastic packaging should be disposed of together with organic waste.

The aim is to make it easier to recognise this kind of packaging, so as to improve not just the quantity of waste collected but above all the quality. Payments made to affiliated Municipalities increase as they reduce the amount of non-compostable impurities that “pollute” the collection of OFMSW.

A platform to combat illegal packaging

Just as important for optimising the collection and recycling of bioplastics are the 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 meet 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 developed a platform together with the Assobioplastiche trade association to address this issue. 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.

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