Comieco is the National Consortium for the Recovery and Recycling of Cellulose-based Packaging. Its members are mainly: paper manufacturers, importers of paper and board packaging, recycling companies. The Consortium manages voluntarily every stage of the process that recovers and recycles paper and board collected as a whole and not only packaging waste. In order to manage the collection and the recycling, Comieco signs agreements with the local authorities and collectors.
Comieco was founded in 1985 as a voluntary association of paper manufacturing companies sharing an ethical environmental code. In 1997 – in complain with the Italian law (D.Lgs. n. 22/97modified by D.Lgs. n. 152/06) – Comieco became the National Consortium for the Recovery and Recycling of Cellulose-based Packaging. The Comieco headquarters are based in Milan and the Comieco branch is in Rome.
The Consortium serves as a common area for manufacturers and converters of paper and board sector companies for the recovery of used paper and cardboard. Coordinating its activity with the Italian National Packaging Consortium – CONAI - Comieco manages the full chain of the collection, recycling and recovery of cellulose-based packaging.
The objectives stated by the consortium surpass the statutory regulations fixed by the law. On one side it aims at reaching the percentages stated by Decree for the recovery and recycling of all the cellulose packaging placed on the Italian market. On the other side the Consortium has expanded its commitment to every stage of the recovery and recycling process of all paper and board wastes collected by local authorities, its founding principles being: sustainability, prevention, recycling and recovery. All its members necessarily share these values and the strict environmental responsibility deriving from it.
Affiliation to the National Consortium is certified through a registered trademark created and promoted by Comieco, available to every member company, for its own use (printed on packaging items, on letterhead, etc.)
Comieco counts, at present, over 3,400 member companies. Its members include: paper manufacturers (paper mills, sorting plants, etc.), importers of paper and boards for packaging, recycling companies. The companies associated with Comieco account for more than 90% of the Italian production of paper and board packaging.
In order to manage all the recovered paper provided by the selective collection run by the local Councils, Comieco has signed agreements with the local authorities and collectors (more than 51.6 million inhabitants vs. 59 million in Italy). Comieco, through its paper mills, guarantees the recycling of paper and board collected.
Mainly, the Consortium finances itself through a socalled “environmental contribution”, in accordance with the CONAI statute which entitles the manufacturer of cellulose packaging to charge a direct fee, by issuing an invoice in the user’s name. 95% of Comieco’s budget is dedicated to pay the local authorities to compensate for the paper collection carried on and completed in accordance with the “National Agreement” signed by Comieco with ANCI (the Association of Italian Town Councils) and CONAI. Comieco gives a financial support to the associated paper mills using recovered paper depending on the market.
SPECIAL PROJECTS - The Prevention Program in line with its deep environmental commitment, Comieco’s priority objective today is to limit the quantity (in terms of weight) of cellulose packaging put on the market. To this purpose Comieco has created and launched its “Prevention Program”, which lists specific guidelines and practical interventions to meet this target. - The CONAI-ANCI Agreement It is a win-win contract signed by Comieco with 6,314 town councils in the country (at present,) roughly involving 87.8% of the total Italian population.
(2008 data)
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