Institutional portal - Municipality of Milan

Grandi: "With 63% recycling, Milan leads in Europe. It is important to find new recovery and recycling solutions, it is crucial to reduce waste" - Photo gallery

Milan, June 9 2023 – A new campaign dedicated to raising awareness among citizens on the correct separate collection of beverage and food cartons. Created by AMSA and Comieco, in collaboration with Tetra Pak, it will be launched on Monday 12 June.

The presentation premiered today at Palazzo Marino, in the presence of the Councilor for the Environment and Green Elena Grandi, together with Marcello Milani, CEO of AMSA, Carlo Montalbetti, General Director of Comieco - National Consortium for the recovery and recycling of cellulose-based packaging - and Paolo Maggi, President of Tetra Pak South Europe.

The campaign highlights the importance of recovering this packaging which, with a view to a full circular economy, can be transformed into new products if correctly placed in the separate waste collection of paper and cardboard.

The initiative represents an opportunity to talk about the cycle - from packaging to resource - of beverage and food cartons, which in Milan follows a precise path where recovery and recycling in specialized plants leads to the complete reuse of the materials that compose them.

AMSA, a company of the A2a Group, deals with waste in the first instance, collecting it through door-to-door separate waste collection in the paper and cardboard bin. The beverage and food cardboard is then separated from the rest of the material at the A2a Recycling plant in Novate Milanese, thanks to the recent introduction of an innovative automatic selector capable of specifically recognizing this packaging. The journey of the cartons, collected on the instructions of Comieco, continues in the Saci paper mills where the cellulose fiber is recovered to produce new paper for bags, boxes and other items.

The non-fibrous components of the package, such as the plastic and aluminum film and the caps, which cannot be recovered in the paper mill, are instead managed by a Lombard company, Ecorevive, which processes this material to produce a recycled polyethylene-based "densifier". , usable in various applications. Alternatively, Ecoplasteam produces "polyal", with which it is possible to create various types of articles, such as pallets, vases, pens and markers, towel rails, parts of car interiors, just to name a few examples.

"By separating 63% of waste – declared Councilor Grandi –, the citizens of Milan demonstrate great responsibility and awareness. It is a result that places Milan in first place in Europe among large cities with a population of over one million of inhabitants and which encourages us to find ever better recovery and recycling solutions, like the one we are presenting today. Optimizing the management of the entire life cycle of products and raw materials is one of the objectives we have set ourselves with the Air and Climate Plan , in the context of the circular economy. But it goes hand in hand with an even more crucial and ambitious aim: the overall reduction of waste".

“AMSA, with partners such as Comieco and Tetra Pak, plays a crucial role in closing the loop in the paper cycle. Together, we work to ensure that every cardboard collected is treated and recycled efficiently, transforming it into new resources that can be reused in the our community – states Marcello Milani, CEO of AMSA – For this reason, as the A2a Group we have always been actively committed to raising awareness among the citizens of Milan also on these issues: the campaign presented today is not limited only to promoting correct separate waste collection, but it also aims to create a broader awareness of the importance of valorising waste, to give it a second life".

"In Italy the recycling of cardboard for liquids stands at around 40% – comments Carlo Montalbetti, Comieco General Manager –. In the metropolitan area of ​​Milan alone we are talking about a collection potential of 2.000 tonnes per year which today have only been partially intercepted and initiated recycled as part of the agreement between Comieco and AMSA relating to all cellulosic packaging. A recent survey that we commissioned from Ipsos confirms this scenario: although 9 out of 10 Italians say they know how to differentiate, in the case of beverage and food cartons the 48% make at least one disposal error. Through the information campaign we have planned we aim to reduce errors and double the collection of this packaging with the collaboration of citizens, whose commitment is fundamental to boost the recycling cycle".

"In concrete circular economy projects like the one presented today, collaboration between the various partners in the recycling value chain is a fundamental asset – underlines Paolo Maggi, President of Tetra Pak South Europe –. The presence of collection, selection and recycling systems innovative, capable of giving a second life to post-consumer beverage and food cartons, is an important recognition of our work on the topic of design for recycling and a further confirmation of the commitment of a supply chain in which citizens, through the collection differentiated, have an active role in creating virtuous circularity paths".