The analysis of packaging life cycle was at the convention center “Wood and cork packaging between tradition and innovation: from the raw material to recyclability and compostability” one of the most interesting initiatives of Ecoworldthe international fair dedicated to sustainability underway in Rimini. Pioneering research commissioned by Assoimballaggi of FederlegnoArredo and conducted byUniversity of Florencewhich is a fundamental tool for knowing the impacts generated by a single product throughout its entire life cycle and provides data to understand the areas in which to intervene improve performance along the entire supply chain of a sector with a turnover of around 2.5 billion eurosas attested by the data of the FederlegnoArredo Study Center, made up of approximately 2 thousand companies and employing approximately 17 thousand workers.
“The wooden packaging sector presents itself as a point of reference for sustainable development, demonstrating thatresponsible use of natural resources can lead to solutions with a reduced environmental impact – he underlines Andrea Attilio Gavapresident of Assoimballaggi -. Our companies will be able to respond to new market needs by improving the already excellent overall impacts of the products, thus positioning themselves as partners capable of helping the entire supply chain in achieving the sustainable development objectives set by EU directives and international agreements. A challenge that we are ready to take on to grow and qualify our sector, guaranteeing the wooden packaging market a primary role, with a view to sustainable logistics”.
The industrial wooden packaging covered by the study is a strategic product for Italian logistics and are used for transport safely goods of any size. Custom designed, they represent a one-of-a-kind product, the benefits of which fall on producers, retailers and consumers. The study highlights that the entire life cycle of industrial packaging, calculated with the “cradle to grave” (from the cradle to the grave), is capable of absorb more CO2 than it emitstherefore having an overall positive impact. Having fulfilled their transport function, they can be easily transported recycled to produce other wood-based products, such as i furniture panelskeeping the CO2 stored.
“Assoimballaggi is one of the first associations in Europe to have conducted a study of this magnitude. Sustainability is one of our priorities and our commitment is aimed at supporting members in achieving their sustainability objectives. From this point of view, LCA studies are a fundamental tool for understanding the environmental impacts of products as a starting point for defining effective improvement strategies – adds Attilio Gava -. At the same time, we are aware of the crucial role we play in the supply chains in which we operate, and we humbly want to underline the value we bring to the market: the products we design and manufacture every day, with the help of our precious collaborators, are essential tools for the entire Italian manufacturing sector and beyond.”
The conference also offered an in-depth analysis of the packaging supply chain: from sustainable forest management to the recyclability of the final product. As regards forest management, an aspect closely related to the LCA study concerns the impacts of transport for the supply of raw materials, currently mainly imported from other EU or non-EU countries.
One of the important challenges in this area is to be able to develop national forestry supply chainsaware that these can bring great benefits both in environmental terms, with the reduction of transport impacts, but also in social and economic terms. He is working precisely in this area FederlegnoArredoone of the founding members of Cluster Italy Forest Woodwhich aims to support projects that promote short forestry supply chains.
Assoimballaggi is also working to address some paradoxes related to compostability: wood is used by composting plants as a trigger to start the compost process, but it does not comply with the European reference standard EN13432 due to longer decomposition times. In this period the update of the European standard is under discussion, and Assoimballaggi has asked for a modification to correct this distortion. Wood, in fact, is a material biodegradable and compostable.
The wood-furniture supply chain is a virtuous example of circular economy: wooden packaging (pallets, crates, crates), once its use cycle has ended, undergoes a process whereby it becomes components of wooden panels which, in turn, will serve to create furniture. FederlegnoArredo has worked with European trade associations to safeguard the positive recognition of this process, put at risk by the definition initially provided by the draft text of the European Packaging Regulation. To protect an integrated and virtuous system, the material that can be reintroduced into the supply chain following the recycling process – even for purposes other than the packaging from which it derives – has been defined by the European Union as “high quality recycling”.
A result that allows us to preserve the sustainability of wooden packaging, including wooden crates and industrial packaging, reaffirming that the quality of recycling is linked not to maintaining the same use but to the environmental benefit generated.