Italy exceeds EU targets with 69.5% aluminium packaging recycling rate as beverage cans reach 92.8%

ITALY – Italy has exceeded EU targets with a 69.5% aluminium packaging recycling rate in 2025, while beverage cans reached 92.8%, saving an estimated 460,000 tonnes of CO₂ equivalents.

The Italian Aluminium Packaging Consortium (CIAL) reports an overall recovery rate of 72.9%. 

While this marks a decrease of two%age points from the adjusted figure of 71.4% in 2024, CIAL asserts that this is not the result of a decline in performance but a 7% increase in the amount of packaging placed on the market. 

The rise was a result of improvements in Italy’s economic climate and new adjustments in the calculation of the amount of packaging placed on the market, including the proportion of aluminium present in composite packaging.

Beverage Cans Match Deposit Scheme Performance

Aluminium beverage cans reached a recycling rate of 92.8%, which CIAL aligns with the best European deposit return schemes. 

By comparison, the average European recycling rate for beverage cans in deposit-based systems sits at around 92%, while including both deposit-based and separate collection systems, the average rate stands at 75%. 

The 92.8% rate represents a 5.5% increase in %age points compared to the previous year, leading CIAL to describe Italy as “one of the most efficient countries in Europe” for aluminium recycling. 

Sixty-five thousand tonnes of aluminium were sent for recycling, a 42% increase from 2024 and the highest figure in recent years, saving an estimated 205,000 tonnes of oil equivalent.

Methodological Adjustments

If composite waste and the methodological adjustments of new European regulations are taken into account, CIAL believes that Italy’s overall recycling rate for aluminium packaging reached a total of 72% in 2025. 

The organisation states that these results demonstrate the efficiency and effectiveness of the national waste management system, based on separate collection and recycling, which is capable of achieving results equal to, and in some cases exceeding, those of European countries that have adopted the deposit-refund system for several years. 

Italy’s national system has met the EU’s 50% target for 2025, and CIAL anticipates that the country will exceed the 60% goal for 2030.

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