The "La plastica è cambiata, cambia idea sulla plastica" project involves the entire supply chain. A call to companies in the sector to work together to build an integrated approach to circularity
"La plastica è cambiata, cambia idea sulla plastica", the campaign promoted by Alpla since 2021, continues into 2026 for the sixth consecutive year, expanding its strategic scope. After years of awareness‑raising activities aimed primarily at end consumers, the project is now opening up to the business world, with the understanding that only by building an integrated supply‑chain network will it be possible to address the issue of plastics effectively and accelerate the transition towards a truly circular economy.
Plastic is still too often judged as an isolated material, without considering the complex industrial system that governs its design, production, use, recovery and recycling. Individual and fragmented approaches have so far limited the innovation and sustainability potential that this sector can express. The "La plastica è cambiata, cambia idea sulla plastica" project aims instead to place the concept of the supply chain back at the centre as a fundamental strategic lever.
Over the past years, the campaign has worked intensively on the B2C front, helping to shift consumer perceptions through surveys, educational initiatives for younger generations and public engagement events. The results have been encouraging: awareness has grown around the value of recycling, the importance of separate waste collection, and the potential of plastics when integrated into a virtuous circular‑economy system.
Today, while maintaining its commitment to end consumers, the project recognises that a genuine paradigm shift requires the active involvement of all supply‑chain actors: raw‑material producers, machinery manufacturers, packaging producers, manufacturing companies, distributors, recovery and recycling operators, trade associations and institutions.
A call to businesses: “Let’s build the network together”
The transition to a circular‑economy model requires the entire value chain to operate synergistically. It is no longer enough for individual companies to adopt virtuous practices if these remain isolated. What is needed is a shared vision: only through integration can the positive impact of individual initiatives be maximised and the ambitious sustainability goals set by the global agenda be achieved.
The “Plastic Has Changed” project therefore issues an appeal to all players in the plastics supply chain: it is time to build a network. The challenges facing the sector — from reducing CO₂ emissions to increasing recycling rates, from innovating materials to driving cultural awareness — can only be tackled effectively through collaboration and the sharing of expertise, experience and best practices.
The Italian plastics sector is a globally recognised technological excellence, with more than 10,000 active companies employing over 162,000 people and generating an annual turnover of more than €32 billion. This industrial heritage, combined with the innovation capacity that has always characterised Made in Italy, provides the ideal foundation for building an international benchmark model of circular economy applied to plastics.
The project continues and evolves
The campaign "La plastica è cambiata, cambia idea sulla plastica" will continue in 2026 to foster dialogue with consumers, while simultaneously opening new spaces for discussion, collaboration and networking among businesses. Meetings, thematic insights, training initiatives and trade‑focused communication activities will be promoted, involving a wide range of supply‑chain stakeholders.
The goal is ambitious yet achievable: to demonstrate that plastic, when managed within a responsible, integrated and circular industrial system, is not a problem but a valuable resource for environmental sustainability and economic development.
