According to CONAI’s new General Report, in 2024, 10.7 million tonnes of packaging found a second life. President Ignazio Capuano welcomed a result that testifies to the solidity of the Italian model, which today is called upon to do even more to design and use increasingly reusable, recyclable and recycled packaging”.

Adding energy recovery to the recycling figures, the total amount of recovered packaging exceeds 86%. According to Managing Director Simona Fontana, “Less than 15% of end-of-life packaging is still not recovered in our country. And since packaging accounts for 8% of the total waste, the share is really marginal. Today, it is essential to invest in increasing separate waste collection and creating a circular culture”. Almost 7,400 Italian municipalities have signed up to the CONAI system. Deputy Director General Fabio Costarella stressed that “being close to the territory is essential for the success of separate waste collection aimed at recycling: only cooperation between all the actors involved can help us build an effective waste management system for the whole country”.

MILAN, 25 JUNE 2025 - In 2024, Italy recycled 76.7 per cent of the packaging placed on the market. That is about 10,700,000 tonnes out of a total of over 13,950,000 tonnes. This represents an increase of around one percentage point compared to the 2023 result, when close to 10.5 million tonnes of packaging was recycled.

The quantity of reused packaging will also increase slightly in 2024. Since as long ago as 2012 CONAI has been promoting support and simplifications to encourage the use of packaging designed to last. Last year, more than 1.2 million tonnes of reusable packaging was regularly declared to the Consortium, an increase of more than 20,000 tonnes compared to 2023.

This is the overview of the packaging management situation in the country that CONAI provides every year when presenting its General Report.

“The numbers tell of an efficient system, which over time has been able to consolidate a network of cooperation between companies, institutions and citizens”, comments Ignazio Capuano, CONAI president. "To have exceeded 76% recycling of packaging is an important result, the result of teamwork, especially if we think that Europe asks us to reach 70% by 2030. But we cannot stop here. Complex challenges await us on the horizon, such as those related to the Single-use plastic products (SUPs) and the implementation of the European Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation. And of course we must continue to work with companies to make good eco-design practices more widespread: it is essential that we continue to support Italian entrepreneurship so that it designs and uses increasingly sustainable and environmentally friendly packaging. But I also have another wish: more and more material supply chains must enter into solid and well-organised circular economy flows, not just those of packaging”.

A breakdown of packing waste in Italy shows more than 435,500 tonnes of steel, 62,400 tonnes of aluminium, 4,605,000 tonnes of paper and cardboard, 2,314,000 tonnes of wood, 1,131,000 tonnes of traditional plastic and 47,500 tonnes of compostable bioplastics, giving a total of 1,179,000 tonnes. Almost 2,103,000 tonnes of glass have also found a second life. Among the significant leaps forward was that of the plastics chain: in 2024 it finally managed to exceed the 50% recycling rate demanded by the European Union by 2025.

If we add energy recovery to the recycling figures, the total amount of end-of-life packaging recovered exceeds 12 million tonnes: 86.4% of the packaging released for consumption.

“Less than 15% of end-of-life packaging is still not recovered in our country”, explains Simona Fontana, CONAI Managing Director. “Considering that packaging accounts for about 8% of the total waste produced in Italy, this is a truly marginal share. In any case, much remains to be done. Exceeding the 50% recycling rate for plastics - thus joining all other materials in reaching the 2025 targets ahead of time - is an encouraging milestone, but it cannot be considered an end point. It is essential to continue investing in the strengthening of separate collections and in the creation of an increasingly widespread circular economy culture. More than half of recycled packaging, after all, comes from urban collections and so is the result of citizens' cooperation. But contribution diversification is another tool to be strengthened: by applying environmental contributions modulated according to the recyclability of plastic and paper packaging, since 2018 we have more than halved the quantity of non-recyclable packaging on the market. Therefore, since July this year, we have made the diversification for paper-based composites more incisive by linking the contribution to actual certified recyclability”.

A framework in which the work with municipalities, through the National Agreement with ANCI, continues to play an important role. In 2024, almost 7,400 Italian municipalities signed agreements with the consortium system, entrusting it with all or part of the packaging from separate collections. Coverage of the Italian population thus reached 97%. End-of-life packaging entrusted by municipalities to the CONAI system grew in 2024 in all macro-areas of the country, especially in the Centre (+6.2%) and in the South (+5.1%). Numbers are also growing in the North (+2.7%), driven mainly by an increase in paper and compostable bioplastics.

“Working with municipalities and being close to the territory represents one of the fundamental keys to the success of separate collection aimed at recycling”, says Fabio Costarella, CONAI Deputy General Manager. “In some areas of our country there is still a lot of room for improvement if we are to reach collection and quality levels comparable to those of the best performing areas in Italy. This is why we invest resources and energy in targeted projects, capable of involving local communities and creating a widespread culture of recycling, also focusing on areas of national interest such as UNESCO sites. Only through cooperation between all the actors involved in the integrated responsibility cycle will we be able to bridge differences and build an effective and sustainable waste management system for the whole country”.

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