The 2012 report of Comieco, the Italian Consortium in charge of the collection and recycling of cellulose packaging, was presented in Rome this month.

Ignazio Capuano, Comieco President, confirmed that Italy is a best practice in this sector. Despite the decrease in the amount of new packaging introduced into the market (-4% compared with 2012), the recycled fraction (84,5%) increased, with an improvement of 6% with respect to 2011 data. This means that 9 times out of 10 the packaging is correctly collected and recycled. It was calculated that, during the period 1999 to 2012 and thanks to efficient separate collection and recycling processes, the realization of 270 landfills was prevented and the Municipalities saved 94 million of Euros.

The situation among Italian regions is varied and the leader regions are Emilia Romagna (41.5 kg/inhabitant year), Trentino Alto Adige (80.2 kg/inhabitant year) and Valle d'Aosta (75.9 kg/inhabitant year). To improve the collection also in the areas were the rates are still low, Comieco has established a front office to improve and support the paper separate collection, with a budget of 1 million Euros for the year 2013.

During the presentation of the Comieco yearly report, the Italian Minister for the Environment, Mr. Orlando, said that "the recycling process must be encouraged through green public procurement, research and innovation. Waste must not be considered a local problem, but can be exploited as a resource, reducing the use of raw materials and the environmental impact."

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