Pro Food, a member of Confindustria (the Italian Confederation of Industry), which brings together 14 Italian manufacturers of plastic containers for the packaging, distribution and consumption of food and drink, submitted its comments on PPWR.
The press release issued reads:
"It seemed to be an 'Italian affair', but day by day the emerging criticism of the proposed regulation, strongly conditioned by an ideological environmentalism, gathered adherents from realities even far apart in geographical and economic terms, translating at the time of the vote into a strong consensus in favour of reasonable and clear amendments to the text proposed by the ENVI Commission".
The proposal for radical changes to the text presented in plenary came from many different sectors and gathered many voices: from agricultural producers to trade unions, from cooperatives to Confindustria, from the recycling world to consumer associations. And, of course, from the food packaging industry, which immediately pointed out the risks for the entire supply chain.
According to Pro Food, the vote did not represent a victory for one lobby or another, but simply the inevitable consequence of the triumph of common sense over ideology, an opening up to a model, the Italian one, made up of increasingly sustainable packaging production, increasingly rational use (no 'over-packaging'!) and an already functioning and growing system for collecting, sorting and recycling packaging waste: a system that can certainly be improved, but cannot be replaced.
However, Pro Food notes that the legislative path of the regulation is still long, its steps sometimes complex, and the proposal that emerged from the Parliamentary plenary contains points that can still be improved.
The press release concludes with this statement:
"We will continue to defend and promote our reasons and remain at the disposal of the Italian government, which will play a fundamental role in these steps, all the more so after the outcome of last Tuesday's vote. It is to be hoped that Italy will be able to consolidate its positions, first in the work of the Council of the Union and then in the confrontation between the Council, the Parliament and the Commission. and defend the sustainability and quality of our systems for the production, distribution and consumption of food and drink (and the associated waste management): excellence that is envied abroad and in which packaging plays a fundamental role. Even the much-maligned single-use plastic ones, which are in fact increasingly better used, more and more recyclable and reusable, and in many cases irreplaceable".
