From €55 to €25/ton, as of July 1, 2021, for all paper and cardboard packaging: this is the amount of the reduction in the basic environmental fee resolved a few days ago by the Board of Directors. CONAI – National Packaging Consortium.
The expected savings for users of this type of packaging is more than 135 Mil. Euro, out of a consumer volume of 4.5 Mil. tons. In fact, the favorable environment, evaluated the current scenario of the recovery and recycling chain of cellulose-based packaging, makes the intervention of the CONAI system less necessary.
“Another piece of good news, along with the recent statistics on separate waste collection, which shows that the paper supply chain is responding well to a particularly challenging economic climate ,” emphasizes Mauro Crotti, commercial director of Grifal- The sustainability of paper and cardboard packaging is further confirmed by the action of the legislature, which, in contrast to what has been applied for other materials, has reduced its recovery and recycling fees.”
With the beginning of 2021, the prices of paper obtained from pulp increased significantly with a consequent increase in consortium revenue from pulp sales. A rebalancing on domestic consumption of waste paper by about one million tons, thanks to the opening of three new paper mills, has also helped to make recycled paper even more attractive, pushing away the possibility of a downturn in its market values.
A positive economic situation that puts COMIECO, the National Consortium for the Recovery and Recycling of Cellulose-Based Packaging, in a position to continue to guarantee the collection and management of paper and cardboard packaging waste even with an environmental contribution more than halved.
In this first phase of introducing contribution diversification based on the recyclability of composite packaging, the criterion adopted is the weight of the paper component. As a tendency, the shared desire is to be based on a more precise and scientific criterion: namely the UNI 11743 standard laboratory test, the basis for the application of the Aticelca 501 Evaluation System. Therefore, companies that test the recyclability level of their packaging with such a test can use the result to rank among four possible types of diversification.
Grifal’s cArtù® is a new 100% environmentally sustainable corrugated board that is already Aticelca certified. Compared with traditional corrugated cardboard and plastic materials used for packaging today, it significantly reducesCO2 emissions and solves disposal issues.