ECONOMY AND MARKET
A € 51.3 billion ecosystem is calling for clear rules, definite time frames, and tools for translating the objectives of the PPWR into measurable results. Italian enterprises and industry associations are pooling data, aligning priorities and aiming at the same goal: to ensure that
“ no one gets left behind”.
Speakers at the conference „ Meeting the supply chain: Italy’ s packaging industry towards the new European regulation“
THE ITALIAN PACKAGING SECTOR: LEADERSHIP
AND EU REGULATIONS
Italian technology plast / June-July 2026
026
The Italian packaging sector comes to Brussels bolstered by the latest data and by strong supply chain consensus. In 2024, production volume in Italy reached 17.26 million tons(+ 1.1 % on 2023), generating revenue of € 37.96 billion— the equivalent of 3.3 % of the country’ s manufacturing revenue and 1.7 % of its GDP. Estimates indicate growth of 1 % in 2025 and a CAGR of 1.2 % through 2028( source: Italian Packaging Institute). Considering the broader scope— packaging and packaging technologies, printing, and converting— the sector is worth € 51.3 billion. The shared goal: to continue growing while reducing consumption, translating the challenge of the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation( PPWR) into industrial decisions, investments, and verifiable statistics. This message emerged last January in Rome, in the hall of the Istituto di Santa Maria in Aquiro at Palazzo Madama, seat of the Italian Senate, during the conference „ Filiera a confronto: l’ Italia dell’ imballaggio verso la nuova normativa europea( Meeting the supply chain: Italy’ s packaging industry towards the new European regulation)“ promoted by Giflex at the initiative of Senator Gianluca Cantalamessa( Industry Commission).
PPWR: CONSTRAINTS AND OPPORTUNITIES The PPWR aims to reduce packaging waste by 15 % by 2040, with binding targets and new conditions for design, reuse, recyclability, and recycled content. From the academic world comes a practical interpretation: transforming constraints into opportunities. The Osservatorio Innovazione Packaging( Advanced Design Unit, University of Bologna) proposes the concept of „ su pply chain intelligence“, or packaging as an information and relational infrastructure enabling traceability, accountability, and efficient end-of-life management, including through projects like the FuturE Pack( PNRR – MICS) on smart packaging. The vision is clear: integrating design, data, and technologies to measure real impacts and support decisions on materials / processes consistent
www. plastmagazine. it