CONAI (the Italian National Packaging Consortium) is a private non-profit consortium and system forming the response from private companies to an issue of collective interest, i.e. the environment, in accordance with guidelines and objectives set by the political regime.

Approximately 760,000 companies that produce and use packaging are members of the Consortium, paying a compulsory contribution that acts as a form of financing that enables CONAI to support waste-separation measures and the recycling of waste from packaging.

CONAI has been a member of the National Council of the Green Economy since 2012.

Lechler is very attentive to the issue of sustainable packaging as, each year, it brings a large amount of it to the market in every sector in which it operates. Our partnership with CONAI enables us to approach this issue with greater awareness.  Each year, Conai launches its ECODESIGN competition, allowing members able to submit documentation about their packaging and the features and aspects that make it sustainable to take part.

Ecodesign (or sustainable design) is an economic model that encompasses the entire process of an environmentally friendly product’s conception, design, market sale and disposal, with the aim of minimising the negative impact it might have on the environment.

The recycling chain for the packaging entered into the competition is backed by the Italian Plastics Institute(https://www.iip.it/en) and the Institute for the Promotion of Recycled Plastics(https://www.ippr.it/en).
Through its participation in this competition, Lechler gained major recognition in 2016 for the secondary packaging used for its Hydrofan system tinters.
 

Thanks to our Packaging Management department, Lechler was put forward to take part in the 2023 edition of the competition.
The packaging submitted for the competition made it to the final ranking and placed highly on the winners' table.
These are containers used for interior and exterior water-based paints manufactured at the company’s facility in Foligno. The packaging created contains a high percentage of plastic from recycled industrial waste (90 - 95%, depending on the size).