Packaging: recycling rates continue to rise, set to reach 76.7 per cent in 2024

The recycling rate for packaging in Italia, which accounts for 8 per cent of total waste, continues to rise. In 2024, Italia recycled 76.7 per cent of the packaging placed on the market: 10.7 million tonnes out of a total of over 13.9 million tonnes, representing an absolute increase of 200,000 tonnes – equivalent to an increase of more than one percentage point compared with the 2023 figure (75.3 per cent, up from 71 per cent in 2022). This is confirmed by the national consortium Conai in its new general report.

“The figures paint a picture of an efficient system that has, over time, successfully established a network of collaboration between businesses, institutions and citizens,” comments Ignazio Capuano, president of Conai: “Exceeding 76 per cent in packaging recycling is a significant achievement, especially when we consider that Europe is asking us to reach 70 per cent by 2030. All supply chains are exceeding the EU’s material-specific targets set for this year; even plastics have reached 50 per cent. But we cannot stop here. Complex challenges lie ahead, such as those linked to the SUP Directive (on single-use plastic products, ed.) and the new European Packaging Regulation (PPWR). For the former, the target for 2025 is to collect 77 per cent of PET bottles: we are currently at 70–71 per cent, and a dedicated campaign has also been launched. Increasing collection rates will help us meet another EU target: using 25 per cent recycled material, on a national basis, in new bottles. As for the PPWR, the first phase of implementation will take place in August 2026: work is currently underway on the technical definitions, to strike the right balance between simplicity for the consumer and uniformity across all EU countries. “As Conai, we are organising various seminars on this topic for businesses, each of which has attracted an average of 4,000 participants.”

To be precise, in Italia in 2024, 4.6 million tonnes of paper and cardboard were recycled, 2.3 million tonnes of wood, 2.1 million tonnes of glass, 1.1 million tonnes of conventional plastic and 47,500 tonnes of compostable bioplastic – totalling 1.8 million tonnes – as well as 435,500 tonnes of steel and 62,400 tonnes of aluminium. Among the significant strides forward was that made by the plastics sector: in 2024, it finally managed to exceed the 50 per cent recycling target set by the European Union for 2025. These results were achieved in collaboration with local authorities, through the national agreement with ANCI. In 2024, nearly 7,400 local authorities entered into agreements with the consortium system, covering 97 per cent of the population.

When the figures for recycling are added to those for energy recovery, the total amount of end-of-life packaging recovered exceeds 12 million tonnes: 86.4 per cent of the total placed on the market. The quantities of reused packaging are also set to rise slightly in 2024: 1.2 million tonnes in 2024, an increase of over 40,000 tonnes compared with 2023.

“There is still a great deal to be done,” adds Simona Fontana, Director-General of Conai: “It is essential to continue investing in the expansion of separate waste collection schemes and in fostering an increasingly widespread culture of the circular economy. By applying environmental levies scaled according to the recyclability of plastic and paper packaging, we have more than halved the amount of non-recyclable packaging on the market since 2018. For this reason, from July this year, we have made the differentiation for paper-based composites more effective by linking the levy to certified recyclability.”