Italy’s paper industry turns waste into wealth through industrial symbiosis. With 70% recycled content and innovative partnerships like Mosaico’s bianco krofta reuse, the sector achieves 92% packaging recycling while creating jobs and value.

Italy’s paper sector is transforming waste into opportunity through industrial symbiosis, creating a circular economy model that benefits both businesses and the environment. With approximately 150 paper production sites generating over 8 million tonnes annually, the industry has embraced resource efficiency as a competitive advantage.
“70% of our raw materials come from recycled paper, reaching over 85% in packaging applications,” explains Massimo Medugno, Director General of Assocarta, Italy’s paper industry association. This commitment to circularity isn’t new—dating back to the 1200s when paper was made from rags, and the 1800s when straw was widely used in Italy.
Among the authentic stories of companies engaged in the recovery and reuse of by-products, in Friuli Venezia Giulia Region the Tolmezzo plant operated by Mosaico (Burgo Group) exemplifies industrial symbiosis in action. What was once discarded as waste—”bianco krofta,” a fibrous residue from water flotation systems—is now a valuable resource. Through collaboration with another paper mill just 18 km away, this material is sold as a by-product that performs better than recycled paper, requiring no preliminary treatment and reducing both processing time and energy consumption. According to ARPA FVG (Regional Environmental Protection Agency of Friuli Venezia Giulia), this initiative has significantly reduced waste production and transportation emissions while creating economic value for both companies.
The industrial symbiosis operates at multiple levels across Italy’s paper sector. So, for example:
• the paper converters’ production scraps are collected by paper mills as by-products
• some mills recycle fiber-rich sludge from other paper producers
• specialized facilities process composite packaging materials
• wastewater treatment sludge generates biogas and biomethane, replacing 5-10% of fossil fuel needs by companies
• plastic residues from paper recycling serve as process additives in steel manufacturing
These opportunities can be further developed, to boost competitiveness of the sector. Despite achieving a 92% recycling rate for paper packaging in 2023, Italy exports 1.73 million tonnes of recyclable paper annually—21% of domestic production—primarily due to high energy costs. Assocarta notes that reusing this exported material domestically “would increase Italian paper industry productivity by 27%, create 1,360 new jobs, and generate an additional €1.4 billion GDP annually.”
Laura D’Aprile, Head of Sustainable Development at Italy’s Ministry of Environment (MASE) interviewed by Circular Economy Network, emphasizes the need for policies making secondary raw materials economically competitive: ” We must make the use of secondary raw materials more cost-effective than low-cost virgin raw materials from South-East Asia.”
The INSET European project supports this transition by building networks, developing capacities, and creating policy frameworks to sustain industrial symbiosis across local economies, proving that circular production models deliver tangible benefits for businesses, communities, and the environment.
If you want to know more about INSET toolkit, have a look at this TOOLS https://inset-symbiosis.eu/inset-resources

Sources:
Massimo Medugno, DG Assocarta, Interview delivered to SFC
IL BIANCO KROFTA, DA RIFIUTO A RISORSA, https://www.burgo.com/it/stories/bianco-krofta
Il riciclo della carta cresce, ma bisogna spingere sul riutilizzo, https://circulareconomynetwork.it/2025/06/27/riciclo-della-carta-assocarta