Packaging in paper and cardboard: combining sustainability and innovation

The Italian paper industry invests 420 million euros a year in innovation. Recyclability and biodegradability are the strengths of cellulose packaging.
 

As part of the second edition of Paper and Cardboard Recycling Month, on March 20, Comieco presented a study on the state of innovation of the Italian paper industry. Carried out by Professor Marco Frey of the Sant’Anna Scuola Universitaria Superiore, Pisa, the study confirms that the Italian paper industry is among the first in Europe for its ability to innovate processes and products.
A sector in step with the times in the era of the digital revolution, able to stand out for its dynamism both in the packaging design phase and in the recycling sector. A significant figure whose confirmation comes from investments in innovation: the European paper industry invests a total of 3.5 billion euros a year while in Italy the figure is around 420 million euros.
«The liveliness of the paper sector - explains Amelio Cecchini, President of Comieco - is also confirmed by the over 300 patents filed in Italy with regard to the development and design of cellulose packaging in recent years. In 2017, the European Patent Office received over 4,300 patent applications from Italian companies (+4.3% on 2016), of which 23% concerned the sector of machines and technologies dedicated to paper and board. Innovation in this area has led to the creation of increasingly recyclable and compostable packaging, making the circular economy a reality and not just a slogan».

Call for Inventions by Comieco Factory
Comieco dedicates a special initiative to manufacturers and users, with the aim of spreading the culture of sustainability, while at the same time enhancing all the actions that companies implement  for the development of increasingly innovative and environmentally-friendly paper and cardboard packaging.
The jury awarded the first prize of 20,000 euros to Bestack, the Corrugated Packaging Consortium of Forlì, for the patent “packaging for fruit and vegetables treated with an antimicrobial solution”, awarded for the level of innovation and effective example of environmental impact prevention throughout the supply chain.

The second prize of 10,000 euros went to SCIA Packaging Srl of Aci Sant’Antonio (CT) with the utility model patent “box with built-in separators to contain objects”, for the way in which a particularly complex challenge was faced. Enabling a mono-material packaging.
The third prize of 5,000 euros went to Antonio Sada & Figli SpA of Pontecagnano Faiano (SA) and to its patent for inventions “one-piece packaging in corrugated cardboard with a simplified tear-opening system for the production of boxes with open front”, to use the vertical logic of the packaging that allows obtaining advantages throughout the supply chain process, from the producer to the consumer, and for the environmental criteria adopted in the design phase.

Finally, the jury decided to give a special mention to the patent for inventions “high environmental sustainability composite material” of Next Materials Srl, a spin-off affiliated to the Interuniversity Consortium for Materials Science and Technology of the Milan Polytechnic, for the high level of innovation of the material composed of cellulose fibres, also recycled, and of a water-soluble polymeric matrix.