A number of Italian recyclers in the Assorimap industry association have stopped collecting plastic waste from sorting centres, pending "urgent measures" to save the country's recycling sector, which it said has suffered an 87pc reduction in operating profits since 2021.
Assorimap said this week that the Italian recycling industry is suffering from high energy costs compared with other parts of Europe, and "unsustainable competition from non-EU imports of virgin and recycled plastic at rock-bottom prices". It said that its members would shut down recycling plants in response to the crisis.
The association is seeking measures including bringing forward mandatory recycled content in plastic packaging to 2027 — from 2030, as laid out under the EU's Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) — as well as recognition of carbon credits for secondary raw material suppliers and increased control on the traceability of imports.
An Italian recycler told Argus today that it had stopped collecting bales from sorting centres, and that it expected that others had begun to do the same, although some pickups may continue, particularly where transport had already been arranged. A source from a sorting centre confirmed that several large customers that had bought PET and HDPE bales from their company through the Italian auction system for November were declining to collect them. They said that, unless the situation is resolved, they would soon fill up their capacity for bale stocks and be compelled to stop taking in mixed plastic waste at the facility.
Plastic waste from the Italian separate collection system is sorted into individual fractions, which are then sold to recyclers via a monthly auction.
The Italian government recently announced that it would delay the implementation of a €450/t ($523/t) tax on single-use plastics — which would include exemptions for recycled plastics — to 1 January 2027, from 1 July 2026. Implementation of the tax has now been delayed eight times since an initial decree in 2020.
