What is packaging for? To protect our medicines, keep our food whole, provide product information, help people with special needs know what they are buying, and know how to consume and dispose of content and packaging. In short, without packaging, our shopping in supermarkets, shops and pharmacies would be very different from how we know it.
Protecting the product and the consumer: this is also sustainability
In the midst of the green revolution that is sweeping Europe, there is a lot of talk about packaging, with particular attention to the final stages of its journey. Recycling, circular economy, separation of materials are at the center of a debate where packaging, whether plastic, paper, glass or can, is seen mainly as a source of pollution and not as a fundamental vehicle for protecting the product and consumers. It therefore seems that packaging is a necessary evil and not an indispensable complement to everyday life. In fact, the packaging guarantees that the food is not wasted, is protected and correctly stored for the benefit of everyone’s health. Packaging also ensures that drugs are effective thanks to the protection of their functional characteristics, or that products shipped through e-commerce channels arrive intact at our homes.
The economic impact of packaging
The applications of packaging are endless and present in every moment of our lives, generating value throughout the entire life cycle and with a strong economic impact. The industrial supply chain underlying packaging is in fact a success that makes Italy a leading market worldwide from the production of packaging machines to recycling, from the development of new materials to innovation and digitalization paths.
With over 30,000 employees in Italy and a total turnover that exceeded 9 billion in 2023, packaging is an important sector for the Italian economy that generates GDP and employment points, mainly concentrated in 4 northern regions. These are Emilia-Romagna, with 21800 employees, Lombardy with over 6300, Veneto with 3500 and Piedmont with 3135 people active in local companies. An important source of wealth therefore, in terms of technological innovation, research and development, generated economy, creation of value.
Packaging machines: a market where Lombardy is the leader
Lombardy, which has important world leaders on its territory, has a strong concentration in the Bergamo area with over 1500 employees, thanks to the push of world leaders such as Reepack and Smi Group, at the top in food packaging solutions in the food and beverage sector, followed by Milan with 1300 employees, Mantua, home to PE Labellers at the top of the label market with over 1100 employees, followed by Como with more than 700 active workers, Pavia with over 600 employees and home to the industrial vision giant SEA Vision, Brescia with more than 350 people employed, followed by Varese, Lecco, Monza and Brianza with an average of 150-180 employees.
Global packaging meets in Milan in 2025
The strength of the Italian packaging market finds its moment of synthesis in one of the most important sector fairs globally. This is Ipack Ima, scheduled at FieraMilano Rho from 27 to 30 May 2025 where over 1100 exhibitors from all over the world, including 160 Lombard companies, meet for a new edition which in 2022 saw over 59,000 visitors and more of 350 sector purchasing professionals.
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