Legislative Decree No. 116 of 3 September 2020,which transposes the UE Directive 2018/852 on packaging and packaging waste, makes environmental labelling of packagingmandatory, an important regulatory update for companies that will have to comply with the criteria established to meet the growing demand for information on environmental sustainabilityin general and specifically when it comes to packaging.
The new decree amended paragraph 5 of Article 219 of Legislative Decree 152/2006 on "guiding criteria for the management of packaging waste" and requires that all packaging be properly labelled to facilitate collection, reuse, recovery and recycling and to provide consumers with correct information on their final destinations.
In addition, for manufacturers, the obligation to indicate the nature of the materials used for packaging, on the basis of Decision 97/129/EC, is also introduced by means of an alphanumeric identification code (plastic, paper and cardboard, metals, wood materials, textiles and glass).
The innovations introduced by the aforementioned standard are mainly 3:
- Obligation to label the environment
- Obligation on manufacturers to indicate the nature of thematerials used for packaging
- Compliance with the labelling of recoverable packaging according to the criteria of composting or biodegradability on the basis of Article 182b of D.L.vo 152/2006 (as amended by D.L.vo 116/2020).
The sanctions provided for in Article 261, paragraph 3 of legislative decree 152/2006 for those who do not comply with the standard can range from a minimum of 5,200€ up to a maximum of 40,000€ and potentially involve all operators in the sector (producers, manufacturers, processors, importers, traders, distributors, filling workers, etc.), therefore a transitional period has been requested by the trade associations to allow all the parties involved to adapt correctly; this transitional period was not provided for, however, the legislator intervened with Decree Law No. 183 of 31 December 2020 "Milleproroghe Decree", providing for the suspension, until December 31 2021, of the labelling obligation indicated in paragraph 5 of Article 219 of Legislative Decree 152/2006.
To clarify matters, therefore, the Decree "Milleproroghe" has only temporarily suspended the obligation to report on packaging intended for the final consumer the indications concerning the end of life of the same, while the obligation to affix on all packaging (primary, secondary and tertiary) the identification code of the material according to Decision 97/129/EC remains in force.
To facilitate companies and operators in this process and in the correct interpretation of the technical specific standards, the document drawn up by CONAI and containing the Guidelines is useful, the result of the comparison between all the main players in the sector: Istituto Italiano Imballaggio, UNI, Confindustria, Federdistribuzione and the trade and territorial associations.
It should be noted that the aforementioned rule does not apply to the packaging of pharmaceutical products, as specified by AIFA.
To verify the compliance of the labels of your packaging, to define its contents, for the communication of information of a voluntary nature pursuant to ISO 14021, you can rely on LCA Ambiente.
Contact us at info@lca-ambiente.com or info@scfinternational.it, we are available to answer your questions and support you in the process of adapting the environmental labels of your packaging.