With a recent provision (available here), the Italian Antitrust Authority has ascertained that Corepla, the consortium of plastics supply chain that is part of the Conai system, has abused its dominant position in the Italian market for recycling and recovery of pet plastic packaging, i.e. plastic bottles for water and soft drinks, which are offered to producers called upon to comply with environmental obligations.
Following the precautionary measures ordered in October 2019 in order to reject Corepla’s request for exclusivity on materials from urban separate waste collection, on 10 November the AGCM has finally imposed a fine of over 27 million euros.
The Authority’s investigations ascertained that Corepla has implemented an articulated strategy in order to hinder the operations of Coripet, the consortium made up of producers of plastic bottles for liquid foodstuffs, previously members of Corepla, authorized to operate in provisionally by the Ministry of the Environment from April 2018 on the basis of an innovative project for the recovery and recycling of pets. In order for Coripet to acquire the right to operate on the market, it had to prove its operational capacity within two years from the date of provisional authorization. However, this activity was in fact hampered by a series of abusive conduct carried out by Corepla.
In particular, the investigation conducted by the Authority ascertained that Corepla prevented Coripet from accessing the management of plastic waste attributable to its consortium members, both by preventing it from signing a deal with Anci, and by refusing to enter into Coripet a transitional agreement, which was necessary due to the impossibility of directly signing an agreement with Anci. Therefore, Corepla has committed a serious violation of art. 102 of the TFEU.
The Authority’s intervention therefore made it possible to extend competitive mechanisms to the offer of start-up services for the recovery and recycling of pet bottles for food use, thus favoring the competitive dynamics envisaged by the Consolidated Environmental Act with advantages not only for the community, but also for the environment. The project in fact involves the management of materials of origin, as well as from the traditional urban separate waste collection, also from the progressive installation on the territory of the so-called eco-compactors, which collect the empty plastic bottles directly from the final consumer. In this way, on the basis of incentive economic benefits, the differentiation in the collection of plastic pet food packaging is stimulated and the activation of the so-called “bottle to bottle” circuit, which is an example of the implementation of the circular economy.
