In 2023, turnover of 3.3 billion for the recycling industry. Picket line: Italy is a model in the EU

In the 2023 il National packaging consortium has generated a turnover of over 3 billion and 300 million euros in Italy. “Conai is a European model, you can see it in the results, we have already exceeded the 2030 objectives“, observes the Minister of Environment and Energy Security, Gilberto Pichetto.
The system works, explains the minister, who however urges us to continue the commitment in all areas of Italy: “The culture of separate waste collection is a step that is acquired little by little, it is not so automatic. It is a sector that allows us to excel at a European level”, he states from the stage at the presentation of the Sustainability report of the consortium.

Conai’s turnover is a sum of three values: a direct turnover of 1 billion and 289 million euroscoming from the Conai Environmental Contribution (CAC) and from revenues from the sale of materials; a indirect impact equal to 1 billion and 701 million euros, linked to the activation of supply chains; and a induced impact of 346 million euros, deriving from the consumption of workers’ families and supplier companies. A turnover comparable to the value of the entire passenger air transport sector in Italy. Revenues from CAC alone amounted to 718 million euros: which means that each euro of environmental contribution has a multiplier of 4.6 in terms of value generated for the Italian economy. This is the main data that emerges from the new Conai Sustainability Report which, like every year, quantifies the economic and environmental benefits of packaging recycling in Italy.

“Every euro of contribution generates another four and a half for the economy: it is now clear that the use of second-use materials to replace virgin raw materials has important repercussions on our economic system“, specifies the president of Conai, Ignazio Capuano. “Our commitment to sustainability – he adds – it is an institutional mandate, but also the vision of a future in which the planet’s resources are used more efficiently, protecting the environment. For the first time, therefore, we have adopted a new calculation methodology to report the value generated by the correct management of packaging: the benefits are both economic and environmental in nature. This is certified by a new study conducted by The European House – Ambrosetti, of which we presented a preview at Ecomondo and which today we include in full in the report“.

Il effective contribution of the Conai system to the national GDPi.e. the added value generated, was instead equal to 1 billion and 924 million euros.

Finally, the employment impact: in 2023 the system supported a total of 23,199 jobsbetween direct employment (workers employed continuously in the structures and processes managed directly by the Consortium), indirect (thanks to the activation of the connected supply chains) and induced (which essentially concerns the sectors of waste management, industrial manufacturing and transport ).

11 million 724,000 tons is the quantity of virgin material which, at a national level, has been avoided from extraction and use thanks to the recycling of packaging in 2023. They are equal to the weight of 800 Towers of Pisa. Recycling also confirms itself as an important player against the emission of CO2 into the atmosphere, to combat climate change. And the Conai Sustainability Report shows how in 2023, thanks to recycling, the emission of more than 10 million tonnes of CO2eq was avoided. Which is equal to the emissions generated by more than 8,000 flights around the world. A figure that represents the balance between the lack of production of greenhouse gases thanks to the avoided production of primary material and the emission of greenhouse gases solely for the operations of preparing for the recycling of packaging already used, i.e. the transport and treatment to transform the packaging waste in new raw material.

The contribution of Italian companies to the correct management of the end of life of packaging also takes the form of a saving of primary energy, i.e. the energy generated from fossil sources which would be necessary for the production of all the primary material saved. A figure which, starting this year, has been refined by introducing into the calculation the primary energy consumption relating to operations preparing for recycling and transporting packaging waste. In 2023, it is estimated that 50 terawatt hours will have been saved, which is equivalent to the annual domestic consumption of half of Italian families.

“For years the Report has been an important vehicle for a documented approach to the topic of environmental protection, based on numbers and results as well as on concrete prospects for improvement“, claims the general director, Simona Fontana. “Sharing it represents a moment of transparency that proves how much the Consortium’s work can and above all wants to be measured and measurable, with a view to synergistic sharing between all the actors and stakeholders in the supply chain. But it is a document that goes beyond measuring results and which testifies to a deeper commitment – he claims -: spreading an environmental culture that permeates the social fabric remains an essential part of the tasks assigned to us”.

For the Deputy Minister for the Environment Vannia Gava the report confirms the leadership of Conai and its consortium members in sustainability, “an all-Italian excellence that combines environmental protection, economic growth and employment“. In the packaging sector, Mase is there, he assures, “with investments, tax incentives and rules that simplify and promote the circular economy. Waste is a resource. The challenge is to promote this type of environmental culture, relying on science and technology”.