January 24, 2025 14:41

The looming increases in energy costs could severely impact Italian and European plastics recyclers, potentially leading to plants stops and jeopardizing the recycled content targets set by the new Regulation on packaging and packaging waste, published Jan. 22 in the Official Journal of the European Union (read article).

The Italian association of plastic recyclers, Assorimap, sounded the alarm in response to comments by Italian Minister of Environment and Energy Security Gilberto Pichetto Fratin, who warned of possible future energy cost increases.

The association emphasized that recycling companies are energy-intensive and have already faced significant challenges during the 2022-2023 biennium, when high energy procurement costs forced some production lines to shut down.

“Our companies have been waiting for years for obligations on the design of recyclable packaging and mandatory minimum recycled content targets for plastic packaging production, as we had requested,” said Walter Regis, president of Assorimap (pictured). “While the implementation deadlines for packaging producers extend until 2040, addressing supply issues had given the market some hope.”

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