“From today we will stop everything”, thus Walter Regis, president of Assorimap, the National Association of plastics recyclers and regenerators, announces the final measure which is the closure of the plants, obviously putting waste management and separate collection at risk throughout Italy.
The reason? The plastics supply chain has been threatened by a serious competitiveness crisis for a long time, which is why strategic measures had already been requested to avoid a collapse that would have repercussions everywhere.
Almost two months have passed since the last appeal to Minister Pichetto Fratin and more than a month since the table convened by the Ministry of the Environment with the promise of a new operational call by early November, which to date has not happened – Regis recalls. What we denounced in October was not an idle warning, nor is this announcement to stop the plants. We are facing a national emergency that we cannot address alone.
It goes without saying, in fact, that the blocking of private recycling plants will lead to an immediate domino effect, paralyzing the national waste system. According to the Association, in fact, the yards of the storage and selection centers are already overloaded and at the required authorization limits.
If we recyclers stop processing batches altogether, the sorting system will crash within a few weeks. At that point, there will no longer be space to dispose of the plastic collected separately by citizens, explains Regis.
Already in recent months Assorimap had presented incontrovertible data on the collapse of the sector: operating profits collapsed by 87% from 2021, going from 150 million euros to just 7 million in 2023, with a projection towards zero for 2025.
The turnover of companies has lost 30% since 2022. A crisis shared by the entire supply chain, caught between energy costs – the highest in Europe – and the unsustainable competition from extra-EU imports of virgin and recycled plastic at rock-bottom prices.
The solutions proposed by Assorimap at Mase and still on the table to overcome the crisis, start from the request to advance the mandatory content of recycled plastic in packaging to 2027 and range from the recognition of carbon credits for those who produce secondary raw materials up to the extension of white certificates, passing through greater controls on the traceability of imports up to effective sanctions.
Saving the Made in Italy mechanical recycling supply chain is essential for the ecological transition and the strategic autonomy of the country – concludes Regis – But facts are needed, and they are needed immediately, because we cannot take on the burden of managing the plastic waste of an entire country.
