(Finance) – “We have suspended 40% of the activities, because energy costs are no longer sustainable “. To sound the alarm is Assorimap, the national association of companies that recycle plastics. Some plants are already closed, while others remained operational only a few days of the week, a consequence of the expensive bills that increased by 440% from June to August.
Already last February – we read – “Assorimap had asked the government for structural measures to deal with energy costs that have increased by 345% in one year. LThe association therefore calls for immediate action from the government still in office, but also addresses the political forces that are in the electoral campaign: the risk is the closure of companies which would generate a short circuit in the plastic waste recovery system and a huge competitiveness gap on international scale. The fluctuation of energy prices does not allow, among other things, a planning of activities “.
If action is not taken promptly, underlines Assorimap, rwe are bound to collide with a bitter paradox: circular economy and ecological transition are constantly placed at the top of the political agenda, but the ongoing increases are suffocating the companies that constitute their beating heart. Investing in the Green Economy cannot ignore structural support for these realities. In terms of sustainability, the companies represented by Assorimap represent excellence with 800 thousand tons of secondary raw material in output from mechanical recycling plants, as emerged from the Report presented last June. For every ton of recycled plastic, 1.9 tons of oil and 3,000 kWh of electricity are saved and CO2 emissions are reduced by 1.4 tons of oil equivalent. It is necessary to start from these elements, to plan actions capable of counteracting the energy price increases on a permanent basis. Failure to do so would stifle the circular economy and compromise the ecological transition process for Italy “
(Photo: © Andrii Yalanskyi | 123RF)