{"id":177961,"date":"2026-06-29T07:26:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-29T05:26:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/?p=177961"},"modified":"2026-06-27T11:09:58","modified_gmt":"2026-06-27T09:09:58","slug":"italian-compostables-rethink-strategy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/italian-compostables-rethink-strategy\/","title":{"rendered":"Italian compostables rethink strategy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n

After another negative\u00a0year\u00a0in 2025, also marked by falling volumes, the\u00a0Italian\u00a0compostable\u00a0plastics industry has begun to reflect on the future of the sector. The aim is to identify new strategies to overcome a crisis that appears increasingly structural, although\u00a0Biorepack\u00a0president\u00a0Armido Marana (pictured) prefers to describe it as \u201caccidental\u201d.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n

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\u00a9 Polimerica <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

The issue was at the centre of the third\u00a0Compostable Bioplastics Forum<\/strong>, organised yesterday in\u00a0Rome<\/strong>\u00a0by\u00a0Biorepack<\/strong>\u00a0in collaboration with\u00a0AssoBioplastiche<\/strong>, the Italian industry association.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two analyses were presented during the meeting. The first was the annual market observatory prepared by Plastic Consult<\/strong>, a Milan-based consultancy. The second, more focused on industrial strategy, was presented by Francesco Bertolini<\/strong>, professor at SDA Bocconi School of Management<\/strong>, based on a survey conducted among Italian producers and converters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2025<\/strong>, the main indicators for the Italian compostable plastics sector deteriorated. Turnover<\/strong> fell<\/strong> by 6.8%<\/strong> to \u20ac656 million<\/strong>, marking the third consecutive year of contraction. Production volumes<\/strong> declined by 2%<\/strong> to 119,100 tonnes<\/strong>. The number of companies also fell, by 9.4%, as did employment, down 2.6%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The SDA Bocconi survey<\/strong> sought to assess the health of the sector from within, through an anonymous questionnaire sent to companies. A total of 56%<\/strong> of the companies surveyed believe the sector is doing well<\/strong>, while 44%<\/strong> consider the situation negative or very negative<\/strong>. 
The main concerns relate to Asian competition<\/strong>, weak demand<\/strong> in traditional applications and regulatory uncertainty<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the research, international competition is an important factor, but the main issue concerns the\u00a0strategic positioning<\/strong>\u00a0of the Italian supply chain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cIf compostable bioplastics continue to be perceived as simple\u00a0commodities<\/strong>, it will be very difficult to compete with economies that operate at scale and with lower costs, such as China, which is also supported by state incentives,\u201d Bertolini <\/strong>explained. \u201cThe most\u00a0promising perspective<\/strong>\u00a0is instead to\u00a0enhance<\/strong>\u00a0their\u00a0value<\/strong>\u00a0as components of\u00a0ecosystem<\/strong>services and to integrate them increasingly with high value-added sectors such as food, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals, where sustainability, innovation and quality are distinctive elements.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Innovation<\/strong>, Bertolini (pictured) explained, will be decisive<\/strong>. However, the survey shows that only 7%<\/strong> of Italian operators in the sector currently consider product innovation an absolute priority<\/strong>. By contrast, 52% believe it is more important to introduce rules capable of supporting the end market, while 3% focus on research and dialogue with other players in the supply chain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There would therefore appear to be room for improvement, especially through technological differentiation<\/strong>, new functionalities<\/strong> and integration<\/strong> with other production sectors. For Bertolini, innovation is also the most effective way to enhance a central feature of compostable bioplastics: their ability to fit into Italy\u2019s system for managing the organic fraction of waste.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The survey also asked entrepreneurs how they see the sector in ten years\u2019 time<\/strong>. A total of 13<\/strong>% expect turnover to grow<\/strong>, 41%<\/strong> expect values to remain in line with current level<\/strong>s, while 6% fear a 50% reduction in sales. A similar share even envisages the disappearance of the sector and its incorporation into the conventional plastics industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cThe 2025 figures do not surprise us: they are the consequence of economic\u00a0dumping<\/strong>, stagnant consumption and regulatory uncertainty,\u201d commented AssoBioplastiche president<\/strong>\u00a0Luca Bianconi<\/strong>\u00a0on the sidelines of the conference. \u201cHowever, precisely in this scenario, a proactive vitality is emerging, and that is the real insurance policy for our future.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe challenge posed by European regulations, the\u00a0PPWR<\/strong>, and national rules is not seen merely as a compliance requirement, but as the kick-off for a restart on new foundations,\u201d Bianconi<\/strong> added. \u201cIt remains essential to overcome political deadlocks, such as the one affecting the capsules segment, in order to unlock investments that are only waiting for a clear direction.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After another negative\u00a0year\u00a0in 2025, also marked by falling volumes, the\u00a0Italian\u00a0compostable\u00a0plastics industry has begun to reflect on the future of the sector. The aim is to identify new strategies to overcome a crisis that appears increasingly structural, although\u00a0Biorepack\u00a0president\u00a0Armido Marana (pictured) prefers to describe it as \u201caccidental\u201d. The issue was at the centre of the third\u00a0Compostable Bioplastics […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":114,"featured_media":177963,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","nova_meta_subtitle":"Weak volumes, regulatory uncertainty and import competition are pushing the industry to redefine its positioning","footnotes":""},"categories":[5572],"tags":[5838,5847,10416,28056],"supplier":[13882,23272,28057,14040],"class_list":["post-177961","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bio-based","tag-bioeconomy","tag-bioplastics","tag-circulareconomy","tag-compostables","supplier-assobioplastiche","supplier-biorepack","supplier-plastic-consult","supplier-tuev-austria-group"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177961","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/114"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=177961"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177961\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":178001,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177961\/revisions\/178001"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/177963"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=177961"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=177961"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=177961"},{"taxonomy":"supplier","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/supplier?post=177961"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}