Bioplastics, balance sheet still suffering in 2025

The negative momentum for the bioplastics sector in Italy continues. "All applications are suffering due to the discontinuity of the volumes demanded by the market. After the spring months of flat demand, we saw an upsurge in July and August and a downturn in September," explains Assobioplastiche president Luca Bianconi. 'In a market,' he continues, 'in which products from the East have entered at prices well below those of the western industry. An unfair competition, often played with socio-economic and environmental rules that are not identical for all competitors". Calculating the impact on turnover is not easy given the breadth of the product range of Italian companies. "In general, we can estimate a reduction in value of between 5% and 15%. To give another example, fruit and vegetable packaging, which has shown stable positive trends in recent quarters, will probably close the fourth quarter with a decline," Bianconi emphasises.

The negative trend has continued for at least two years. The sector's turnover, after a record 2022 (EUR 1.16 billion), dropped to EUR 828 million (-29.1%) in 2023, when the total volume of manufactured products reached 120,900 tonnes (-5.5% on 2022), with the greatest difficulties encountered by the single-use sector, which recorded a 20% drop. According to the most recent analysis by Plastic Consult for Assobioplastiche and Biorepack (the bioplastics disposal consortium), the supply chain's turnover in 2024 fell again: to EUR 704 million (-15% compared to 2023), despite stable product volumes (121,500 tonnes: +0.5%).

Critical to the sector remains competition from low-cost products from non-EU countries and from pseudo-reusable products, i.e. made of virgin plastic and intended for multiple reuses but in fact treated like the single-use plastic banned by the Sup (single use plastic) directive. In this regard, a definition of reusable products that was missing in the legislation, working on weights and dimensions, was clamoured for, but has not yet been published.

Another issue is that of controls, which are insufficient to protect a quality supply chain. "There is also a big problem of legality. On the market we often find bags for fruit and vegetables with a bio-based content of less than the mandatory 60 per cent, and therefore not up to standard, or bags for taking away goods with carbonate added and therefore very fragile. These are products that cost on average around 20% less than those of companies that work properly. Unfortunately, large-scale distributors often use discount auctions that reward these products, which are of low quality and with effects on the environment that have yet to be verified. It is disheartening for those who work in the market in the best way,' Bianconi further testifies.

The Italian industry is witnessing an increasing import of materials from the Far East. First it was the raw material, now also the finished products: "We are losing piece by piece the value chain that we have created in Italy, which let us remember is the most important market in Europe for bioplastics, with 50% of European consumption," continues the president of Assobioplastiche, adding: "If there is no change of gear also on the part of certifying bodies and control bodies, we are destined to a flattening towards low quality from which it will be difficult to escape. And on the basis of the recent launch of the Organico Biorepack mark on compostable products - which expresses for producers the membership of the management system and for citizens the indication for the correct disposal in the domestic waste bin - Bianconi looks to the future: "We hope that the mark will be adopted by all processors and their customers and that in time, it will become the quality mark of reference for citizens".