Food waste and packaging: a day of discussion at Laminati Cavanna
On 15 April, the sector gathered for an in-depth exchange on PPWR, food waste and sustainability
It happened again: for one morning, the Laminati Cavanna Academy became the hub of the packaging supply chain, bringing together industry players in what has now become one of the sector’s recognised venues for discussion and exchange.
The occasion was the Giornata del Made in Italy, an initiative promoted by the Italian Ministry of Enterprises and Made in Italy (MIMIT) to celebrate Italy’s ability to innovate across all industries. Packaging was among the sectors highlighted. As pointed out by Davide Miserendino, Editor-in-chief of ItaliaImballaggio and moderator of the round table, packaging has been identified as an enabling sector thanks to its capacity to innovate continuously while maintaining a high level of competitiveness, with exports growing despite the challenges posed by international markets and increasing instability.
The central figure of the day was Anna Paola Cavanna, President of Laminati Cavanna and author of the “White Paper and Made in Italy: the Language of Sustainable Innovation in the Packaging Sector”, written in collaboration with the Istituto Italiano Imballaggio. The publication represents the first step in a broader journey focused on food waste, a key issue from both a social and environmental sustainability perspective. The company’s 57th anniversary—celebrated in the presence of founder Gian Carlo Cavanna—comes with significant new developments, foremost among them a closer engagement with FAO, aimed at initiating a structured reflection on the role of packaging in reducing food waste.
“We are celebrating 57 years of attention to quality, which has always been at the core of our corporate strategy, even when it was not yet required,” said Anna Paola Cavanna. “For decades, random quality checks have been an essential practice within our company, just as the professional growth of the people who contribute to our success is. This is why the Academy plays an increasingly central role, not only as a venue for public events but also in the daily life of our employees, who have access to a digital platform offering continuous training programmes.”
Anna Paola Cavanna’s commitment spans multiple areas. Alongside her role as a manager, she serves as Vice President of Confapi with national responsibility for packaging and as Ambassador of the Carta Etica del Packaging, with the aim of promoting knowledge of the sector. This commitment has recently been reinforced through numerous outreach initiatives, ranging from the Laminati Cavanna Talk series to the presentation of the White Paper at the Italian Senate.
The event, attended by more than 60 experts and stakeholders, featured contributions during the round table discussion from the Istituto Italiano Imballaggio and the Fondazione Carta Etica del Packaging, with presentations by Barbara Iascone and Dario Zanoni, as well as Andrea Formigoni of DEC • Dynamic Environmental Corporation and Fabio Papa, lecturer at the Sole 24 Ore Business School.
In addition to local authorities, the audience included numerous stakeholders from across the supply chain, many of whom have been protagonists of the Laminati Cavanna Talk series and contributors to the book dedicated to the project. Among them were Sante Conselvan of FTA Europe, Andrea Dallavalle of Atif, Italo Vailati representing Giflex, and Angelo Manfredini of Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Piacenza - one of the educational institutions, at all levels, with which Laminati Cavanna has developed training programmes for the next generation of packaging professionals.
