Paper and cardboard packaging, innovation as the engine for circular and sustainable economy: these are the elements which characterise the new Inventions announcement made by Comieco http://www.comieco.org/about-comieco/ (National Consortium for Recovering and Recycling paper and cardboard) which wants to endorse the best sustainable inventions developed in the cellulose-based packaging sector.
Open to all individuals, businesses and professionals, who, since 2014 up until now, have filed a patent in Italy for cellulose packaging which is sustainable, Comieco’s invention announcement envisages the presenting of three awards for a total of 35,000 euros for the best patents for inventions (20,000 euros), patents for utility models (10,000 euros) and registrations of designs and models (5,000 euros) regarding relevant packaging or solutions with measurable environmental benefits.
The evaluation commission, composed of Comieco, Assocarta http://www.assocarta.it/en/, Assografici http://www.assografici.com/ and Aticelca http://www.aticelca.it/2/, will examine all the inventions presented by 30 September 2018 on the basis of multiple selection criteria: from savings on raw materials and the use of recycled raw material in making packaging, to the simplification of the packaging system and its recycling, all the way to logistic optimisation or production processes to reduce waste and energy consumption.
«Thanks to the excellent results obtained with national differentiated waste collection, the Italian paper industry is amongst the top producers and recyclers of paper and cardboard in Europe, manufacturing, in 2017 alone, 4.8 million tonnes of cellulose packaging, with a recycling rate stable at 80% and an overall recovery rate which is reported at 88%1», comments Carlo Montalbetti, general manager of Comieco. «Hand-in-hand with the excellent results in terms of collection and recycling, the paper industry is a sector which reaches increasingly high environmental targets: nationally, in 20 years, energy consumption has reduced by 20% and 90% of water resources is recycled water. Paper and cardboard can be valuable allies for a business with a low environmental impact and this announcement comes fully within the preventive activity that Comieco has been undertaking for more than 30 years».