ILIP at Marca 2025, sustainability at the service of food packaging

ILIP, a company specialising in the production of disposable tableware and packaging for fresh food and fruit, will be at Marca 2025 (Bologna, 15-16 January, Hall 36, Stand C/35) with a focus on its Food Service Packaging and Fresh Food Packaging lines. The trade fair event will also be the first opportunity to present the ILPA Group's Sustainability Manifesto, of which ILIP is the core division, a document that not only formalises the Group's commitment to the environment, but also to the wellbeing of employees, collaborators, the local community, and transparent governance. A path that will find further detail in the Group's Sustainability Report, the publication of which will become mandatory in 2026. With the Sustainability Manifesto, ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) criteria enter fully into the industrial strategy of the ILPA Group, and consequently also of ILIP, directing the company's choices towards greater environmental and social responsibility. 

Key points of the Sustainability Manifesto

• Circular economy: the Group, already at the forefront at European level for the vertical integration of PET food packaging recycling (with activities that have been converting postconsumer waste into high quality secondary raw material since 2012), aims to make its products increasingly circular and sustainable, from the selection of new raw materials to end-of-life management.
• Enhancement of human resources: the focus is on inclusion, respect for rights, safety at work (with the goal of “zero accidents”) and work-life balance.
• Environmental impact: the objective is to reduce the carbon footprint throughout the supply chain, with investments to monitor and minimise energy consumption and favouring the use of 
  renewable energy, as evidenced by the installation, already implemented, of photovoltaic panels at production sites. The choice of suppliers will also be based on ESG performance consistent with that of the Group.
• Local communities: strengthening ties with the territory through cognitive and socio educational paths on the principles of ecodesign at the basis of ILPA's modus operandi and ILIP's packaging.

Roberto Zanichelli, business development & marketing director of ILIP, says:

"The Sustainability Manifesto formalises a commitment that ILIP has been pursuing for years with concrete investments in research and development aimed, for example, at reducing the weight of packaging and increasing the percentage of secondary or renewable raw materials used in production."

"Furthermore, thanks to the circular economy model promoted by the ILPA Group, for years we have been implementing a virtuous ‘tray to tray’ process of R-PET trays produced by recycling post-consumer PET or R-PET trays. All of ILIP's R-PET packaging is, in fact, produced not only from recycled bottles, but also from recycled PET punnets and trays."

ILIP's proposals at Marca 2025

At Marca, ILIP will also be devoting a great deal of attention to its Fresh Food Packaging, trays for the packaging of fresh foods such as meat, fish or dairy products that will be available in two lines: HeatSealing Master, heatsealable trays for packaging in modified atmosphere, and StretchMaster, trays for packaging on automatic lines with stretch film or flowpack. The main feature of the trays of both lines is that they have been designed following the logic of Eco-Design in order to have the best performance with the minimum use of material and, from the point of view of the Circular Economy, for an end-of-life aimed at recycling the trays. In fact, the trays are available in Mater-Bi®, a compostable bioplastic, and R-PET, with a high recycled content. In both cases, the trays are completely recyclable, either in plastic or in the organic waste collection, respectively. 

With regard to Food Service Packaging, the product line that includes disposable tableware and catering packaging made of plastic, bioplastic and renewable and compostable materials, ILIP will focus on the Fibraware line, tableware and packaging made of natural materials such as wood and vegetable fibres suitable for use with hot and cold food. The line includes cups, hamburger boxes, soup cups, deli boxes, food trays, fries wrap cup, noodle boxes and bowls (ideal for salads, poké, etc.).

Special attention will be paid to the Customised Fibraware line: cups and take-away containers in customisable cardboard, even for small lots. This year the range is also enriched by the line of PE doublecoated cups for iced drinks, available in three sizes: 9, 12 and 16 ounces. 

With its presence at Marca 2025, ILIP thus confirms its commitment to innovation in packaging, combining performance and sustainability, in line with the principles of the ILPA Group's Sustainability Manifesto.