Imagine: you are a conscious consumer at the supermarket. You check the label to make sure the product's contents are organic, or eco-friendly, made from raw materials that don't harm the environment — and then… And then, you check the packaging. What material is it made from? Can it be recycled? Entirely or only partly? Well, with cardboard you're on safe ground, for two reasons: first, because nothing (or almost nothing) is wasted — we Italians are among the best in Europe at recovering paper and cardboard packaging and giving it a new life, sending it for recycling and transforming it into new cardboard. Second, because the Italian box manufacturing supply chain is increasingly focused on innovation and sustainability.

These topics and much more were discussed on 2 October, at a meeting held by the Associazione italiana scatolifici to explore the crucial role of corrugated cardboard packaging in sustainable packaging and to explain the specific characteristics of converter box manufacturers within the production supply chain.

Paper and cardboard packaging: some figures

In Italy we produce around 190 million tonnes of waste every year, of which approximately 13.9 million tonnes are packaging. Of these, paper and cardboard sent for recycling account for 4.6 million tonnes, with a recovery rate of 92.5 per cent — the highest of all packaging materials. The system and our virtuous habits allow Italy to contribute roughly 15 per cent to Europe's paper and cardboard collection. Eighty per cent of the recovered fibre is then used to produce recycled corrugated cardboard, while the remaining 20 per cent comes from sustainably managed forests.

The importance of a box manufacturing network

These remarkable results are also made possible by a network of 300 converter box manufacturers — mostly Italian family-owned SMEs distributed across the entire country and brought together by the Associazione italiana scatolifici. These companies — which employ more than 5,000 people and process 2 billion square metres of corrugated cardboard per year — are concentrated mainly in four regions: Lombardia, Veneto, Toscana, Emilia-Romagna and Marche. Their combined annual turnover amounts to 1.3 billion euros.

Andrea Mecarozzi, president of the Associazione italiana scatolifici, commented at the event: "We are a world of small and medium-sized enterprises spread across the whole of Italy, on the front line of the ecological transition and deeply rooted in the industrial fabric of the various districts. We will therefore continue to work to promote, among all stakeholders, a supply chain that generates economic, environmental and social value."

Where things stand with the European regulation

The meeting was also an opportunity to take stock of the European Packaging Regulation (PPWR), which entered into force on 11 February 2025 with the aim of making packaging more sustainable through measures such as the introduction of minimum percentages of recycled material, mandatory recyclability requirements and the promotion of reuse. In practice, paper and cardboard packaging is already well ahead of the curve, with a supply chain that maximises recycling and the use of secondary raw materials.

Conscious consumers have every reason to prefer paper and cardboard packaging — and to feel good about it.