Polylaminate, the new frontier in recycling

Polylaminate, the new frontier in recycling

The objective of Tetra Pak Italiana is an ambitious one: to recover and recycle 50.1% of polylaminate cardboard issued for consumption in our country by the end of 2005. A wholly respectable number, when you consider that the Rubiera and Latina factories produce more than 5 billion containers each year. A formidable challenge, but not impossible, considering the early encouraging results obtained in several areas of Italy, with a total percentage of salvaged materials standing at 35%.

One of the most productive partnerships in the region is the one started up with CEM (Eastern Milan Consortium), the consortium that handles waste collection and serves more than 360,000 residents in the 47 towns of the Brianza district: after successfully concluding the experiments begun in the two pilot towns of Bellusco and Mezzago, CEM will extend its segregated waste collection of beverage cartons to the entire area, appealing to residents to discard such cartons with cans and aluminium instead of with paper, as was previous practice.

Strength in association - The topic was discussed last February 21 in Cavenago (MI) during a meeting entitled "The Recycling Cycle," moderated by Daniela Mazzuconi (president of CEM). Participants at the meeting included Piero Capodieci (president of Comieco), Antonino Granatelli (president of CIAL), Giuseppe Russo (delegated representative of CNA) and Adelio Gaviraghi (Managing Director of Antologia, a plant nursery company that uses materials derived from recycling polylaminates). The director of CEM, Gianrico Sangalli, illustrated the superlative results achieved by his consortium in terms of volumes and cost cutting, with a management that is a model for Italy and Europe. The president of Tetra Pak Italiana, Paolo Nigro, on his part, urged private companies to go beyond the simplistic "environmental marketing" of those who fancy themselves as champions of nature, by reorganizing on the contrary the entire value chain (from raw material procurement to recovery and collection of waste packaging) to combine - yes, even encourage - economic development with respect for the ecosystem.