Italian Circular Economy Targets: Equipment to Meet EU Mandates

By:     Conor Murphy

Italy has adopted an ambitious national circular economy strategy aligned with the EU Circular Economy Action Plan (CEAP) and the European Green Deal targets. The national strategy, coordinated by the Ministry of Environment and Energy Security (MASE), sets recycling and material recovery targets across multiple waste streams that require substantial investment in processing infrastructure to achieve. Italy’s 65% municipal waste recycling target by 2035, combined with sector-specific targets for packaging, tyres, electronics, and textiles, creates a sustained demand for compaction, sorting, and processing equipment across the entire waste management value chain.

This article covers the key Italian circular economy targets, the investment required to meet them, and the specific equipment categories where the gap between current practice and target compliance is driving procurement decisions.

Italy’s Circular Economy Performance: Where the Gaps Are

Italy has achieved strong circular economy performance in some areas while lagging in others. Separate waste collection nationally averaged 64% in 2023, broadly on track for the 65% target but with significant regional disparity. Organic waste composting and biodigestion are well-developed in the North but underdeveloped in the South. Plastic recycling rates are below the EU average in several categories. Glass recycling is strong nationally due to Italy’s established glass collection infrastructure. Tyre recycling under the PFU system achieves recovery rates above 90% but with scope to increase higher-value recycling routes at the expense of lower-value TDF.

Packaging Waste: The Largest Equipment Investment Driver

Italian packaging waste recycling is managed through the CONAI (Consorzio Nazionale Imballaggi) system, in which producers and importers of packaging materials pay EPR fees to CONAI, which in turn finances collection and recycling through agreements with municipalities and materials-specific consortia (CiAl for aluminium, Comieco for paper and board, Corepla for plastics, Coreve for glass, Rilegno for wood, and Ricrea for steel). The CONAI system is well-established and provides the financial infrastructure for packaging waste collection and recycling in Italy.

For Italian businesses generating packaging waste, the CONAI system creates both an obligation and an opportunity. Businesses that sort packaging waste at source and send it through CONAI-compliant collection routes may benefit from reduced EPR contributions. On-site baling equipment that produces specification-compliant bales of cardboard (Comieco) and plastic film (Corepla) is the practical implementation of this compliance route for medium to large Italian businesses generating significant packaging waste volumes.

For Italian manufacturers and retailers generating cardboard and plastic packaging waste, Gradeall’s vertical baler range produces bales compliant with CONAI consortium material specifications for Comieco (paper and board) and Corepla (plastics). Full technical documentation is available for Italian CONAI compliance purposes.

The Textiles Challenge: A New Equipment Category

The EU requirement for mandatory separate collection of textile waste from January 2025 creates a new equipment demand in Italy, which previously had limited textile waste collection infrastructure. Italian municipalities and private waste collectors must now establish collection and baling capability for textiles, including used clothing, household linens, and textile manufacturing offcuts. This emerging stream requires baling equipment appropriate for fibrous, springy materials rather than the rigid cardboard and plastic streams for which standard balers are designed.

“Textile baling is one of the new categories we see entering equipment planning conversations in multiple European markets simultaneously,” says Conor Murphy, Director of Gradeall International. “The EU mandatory separate collection requirement has created a regulatory certainty that didn’t exist before. Operators who have been waiting to see whether the regulation would be enforced are now moving to procurement. Italy, with its textile manufacturing heritage and the associated production offcut volumes, has a particularly strong business case for textile baling infrastructure.”

Gradeall’s textile baling options, including the clothes baler horizontal type, provide the pressing force and bale format appropriate for textile waste streams from both consumer collection and manufacturing offcut sources.

Food Waste Compaction in Italian Hospitality and Retail

Italy’s food waste generation rate is above the EU average, driven partly by the scale of the food service and hospitality sector and partly by household food waste. Italian retailers and hospitality operators with food waste reduction obligations under the national anti-food waste law (L. 166/2016) and EU farm-to-fork targets invest in food waste management infrastructure including compaction equipment for food waste awaiting collection for biodigestion or composting.

For Italian food retail and hospitality operations managing food waste alongside packaging waste, Gradeall’s wet waste portable compactors provide the sealed, drained compaction system appropriate for food-containing waste streams in commercial kitchens, hotel catering operations, and retail food service environments.

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