Separate collection, recovery and recycling of aluminium packaging.
2016 results in Italy: recycling at 73%.
On Friday 28 April in Milan, the results of the campaign for the collection, recovery and recycling of aluminium packaging in Italy in the past year were announced at the Shareholders’ Meeting of CIAL – National Consortium for the Recovery and Recycling of Aluminium Packaging.
2016 was a positive year: the Consortium, approaching the twentieth anniversary of its 1997 foundation, continues to witness growing trends in collection and recycling.
A total of 48,700 tonnes of aluminium packaging was recycled, equivalent to 73.2% of the market (66,500 tons).
This result was made possible by the participation of citizens and agreements reached between CIAL and local authorities.
To date, 6,741 Italian municipalities have actively committed to the separate collection of aluminium packaging (84% of the total) with the involvement of approximately 53.4 million inhabitants (88% of the Italian population).
During the Shareholders’ Meeting of 28 April CIAL Chairman Cesare Maffei, addressing the representatives of the consortium companies, said:
“Twenty years of development and growth of separate collection and recycling of packaging; constant progress consistent with the development of increasingly advanced systems and management models, both in planning and technology. The result is not only the achievement of all the objectives provided by law, but also the consolidation of our country’s recognised and well-deserved position of leadership in Europe.
An excellent outcome, demonstrating that it has all been possible thanks to the commitment and combined action of institutions, businesses, municipalities, operators and citizens.
The same groups are now faced with new and even more ambitious challenges, such as those of the ‘”Circular economy” adopted by the European Parliament and, in particular, by the draft legislation setting out the rules of the waste measures.
Today’s new challenge is more qualitative than quantitative and in terms of culture requires an attitude and a new and innovative approach to facilitate the transition from a linear to a circular economy and to consolidate the important performance and growth trend of recent years. We must introduce the tools and actions needed to ensure that our ordinary everyday practice embraces a new model of production, consumption and management of resources and energy.
Support for separate collection and for the development of new and integrative methods of recovery, aiming towards continuous steady growth of recycling is the main objective of the Consortium’s action strategies and communication initiatives, which will be mapped out in the coming years. We will thus strive to broaden awareness and participation in this environmental protection project that positions aluminium as the undisputed star of the new model of the circular economy.”
CIAL figures for 2016
- 204 companies in the consortium
- Quantity of aluminium packaging present in the Italian market: 66,500 tonnes.
- 6,741 Italian municipalities committed to the separate collection of aluminium packaging, with over 53 million citizens involved.
- 265 affiliated entities, 166 platforms and 12 and smelting centres throughout the country ensure the collection, treatment, recycling and recovery of the aluminium.
CIAL results for 2016
Total recovery of aluminium packaging in Italy (recycling share + share of packaging sent for energy recovery): 51,900 tons, equivalent to 78% of market quantity.
- Recycling: 48,700 tons of aluminium packaging, equivalent to 73.2% of market quantity
- Energy recovery: 3,200 tons (share of thin packaging that goes to waste-to-energy plants)
Recycling 48,700 tons of aluminium packaging has resulted in:
- greenhouse emissions reduced by 369 thousand tonnes of CO2
- energy savings of over 159,000 tons of oil equivalent.
All aluminium produced in Italy now comes from recycling.
Trends place Italy first in Europe with more than 927 thousand tonnes of recycled scrap (not just packaging).