www.comieco.org

Comieco was founded in 1985 through the initiative of a number of companies operating in the paper industry, the acronym stands for “Committee for Ecological Packaging.”
The idea is to organize and encourage the separate collection of paper and cardboard and solve two problems: to ensure a steady flow of raw material (pulp) to paper mills and to divert valuable recyclable resources, such as paper and cardboard, from landfills. During the 1980s, in fact, paper and cardboard collection occurred unevenly, uncoordinated, and was tied to the contingency of the moment.
In times of low prices, it was more convenient for industries to import pulp from abroad than to collect, sort and process local pulp. In 1997, Legislative Decree.
22/97 (“Ronchi Decree”) gave birth to CONAI and the supply chain consortia.
Comieco thus becomes Consorzio Nazionale Recupero e Riciclo Materiali a Base Cellulosica.
The nature of a private-law entity has remained unchanged and today there are about 3,300 member companies representing the entire cellulosic packaging sector: from those who produce (paper mills and importers of paper and cardboard for packaging) to those who convert (paper manufacturers, converters and importers of empty cellulose fiber-based packaging) to the recoverers who, with their platforms, sort the paper and cardboard from separate collections.
Comieco now plays a multifunctional role in the system of recovery and recycling of cellulose-based materials: from prevention, through the encouragement of studies aimed at sustainable packaging (weight reduction, intelligent design and facilitated separation) to the encouragement of separate collection through communication and awareness campaigns, both national and local.
It carries out spot checks and inspections at sorting platforms and is therefore a guarantor of the quality of the pulp that is sent to paper mills.
As part of the Conai System, Comieco disburses fees (resulting from the collection of the CAC Conai Environmental Contribution) to contracted municipalities, as support for the increased burdens of separate paper and cardboard collection.
In 2015 alone, Italian municipalities received fees of more than 100 million euros for collection and processing activities.
Thanks to this organization, the work of municipalities, and the commitment of citizens, Italy was able to achieve the goals set by EU regulations, which required that at least 60 percent of cellulose packaging released for consumption be sent for recycling by 2008.
From 1998 to 2015, the recycling rate of cellulosic packaging in Italy increased from 37 percent to over 80 percent.
In our country today, 10 tons of pulp is recycled every minute.
In the last year, each Italian sent about 52 kg of paper and cardboard to recycling; an average that includes excellent performances and others below expectations.
If the former cannot be asked for more effort, there is ample room to get more from those who started late or lagged behind.
This is Comieco’s goal: to improve paper and cardboard collection capacities, and to find a timely match in environmental benefits. In fact, if we consider the separate collection of paper and cardboard from all circuits (municipal and private), on average in one year, emissions totaling about 10million CO2 equivalents are saved, an important contribution that the paper and cardboard recycling cycle makes to achieving Italy’s Kyoto Protocol commitments.
Bringing all territorial realities to the maximum attainable measure.
This is Comieco’s challenge for the present and the future.