• 19 Apr, 26
• Administrator
• Newsletter, Recycling
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In these days, people are talking about Paper Week, the national week promoted by Comieco, with events all over Italy from April 13 to 19, 2026: open paper mills, workshops, school meetings, guided tours. An initiative that, every year, tries to do something simple but fundamental: make visible what is normally unseen. Because paper is everywhere. But its journey is something almost no one truly knows.

Italy is among the most virtuous countries in Europe in paper and cardboard recycling
Yet, mistakes in separate waste collection are still frequent and risk compromising its quality. This is why Paper Week was created, the national campaign promoted by Comieco to raise awareness among citizens, schools, and companies about the importance of correctly disposing of paper. This year’s message is simple: “Don’t get tangled.” Recycling well is easy, you just need to put everything in the right place. To tell it, with irony, are Ale & Franz, who through light sketches show how simple it is to avoid the most common mistakes.

Not a lesson. An experience
Here at Cartiere di Trevi, we also do our part. We have been participating in Paper Week since its first edition. Not with a stand. Not with an institutional presentation. But by showing directly where everything begins. Two days, two different realities: on Thursday we hosted students from the Guido Alessi school in Rome, who arrived in Trevi by train. Middle school students. Curious, direct, without filters. And precisely for this reason, perfect.

On Friday with the elementary class of the IC Parini School in Montefalco. With the younger ones, it was different. Children from 1st and 2nd grade. Fewer technical questions, more wide-open eyes. Less theory, more wonder. With them, every step becomes a discovery: paper dissolving in water, impurities floating, machines that separate and transform. And above all, one thing always stands out: they immediately understand the meaning. “What they throw away at home doesn’t disappear, it continues its journey.” Because when you talk about paper to an adult, you often have to dismantle beliefs. When you talk to a child, instead, you can build from scratch.

The first discovery: paper is not “just paper”
The initial question was simple: “In your opinion, where does paper come from?” The answers? The ones we all imagine: from trees, from nature, from wood. All true, but only partly. We explained that today, a large part of paper comes from recycled fiber, collected every day in our cities. A raw material that is not extracted, but recovered. And that there is a balance between: recycled paper, certified virgin fiber (such as that guaranteed by systems like FSC).

A fundamental point, often overlooked: there is no opposition between industry and the environment when the system works well. On the contrary. As also reminded by Assocarta, forests in Europe are growing.
For every tree used, more than one is planted. It is not a theory. It is an organized supply chain.

Circular economy explained simply

The second discovery: separate waste collection really works
Here comes one of the most deeply rooted common beliefs: “They mix everything anyway.” It’s a phrase we have heard a thousand times. And probably many of those students had already heard it at home. The answer was not theoretical. It was concrete. We explained what really happens when paper arrives at the mill: it arrives already separated, it follows dedicated supply chains, it is checked, selected, processed. But we also told the truth, without filters: not everything is perfect. Inside recovered paper we still find: plastic, metals, unsuitable materials, daily mistakes made in good faith. And this is where a key point emerges.

The value of mistakes (and technology)
The students were struck by one fact: the paper that arrives is never 100% “clean.” So what do we do? This is where the industrial part comes in, the less visible but most fascinating: selection plants, cleaning systems, technologies that separate impurities from the fiber. We explained that our job is precisely this: recovering value from something that, apparently, no longer has value. And even what cannot be recovered is not wasted: the rejects are used for energy recovery through waste-to-energy processes. Another important step, because it shows something concrete: in the paper cycle, almost nothing is truly lost.

When we open our doors to citizens: Open Day

When theory meets reality
Many Paper Week events, like those organized by industrial players all over Italy or local initiatives such as workshops and educational exhibitions, have the same goal: to show. Because as long as you talk about recycling, it remains a concept. When you see it, it becomes real. And this is even more true for young people. During the days we noticed something interesting: at first they listen. Then they start asking questions. And at a certain point, they start connecting.

“So what I throw away… comes here?”
“So if I make a mistake, I create a problem?”
“So it can be reused many times?”

That’s the moment when everything changes.

RAI cameras to see how we recycle

Paper is a shared responsibility
If there is one message we took home from these days, it is this: paper is not just a material. It is a collective system. It only works if all the parts work: those who consume, those who collect, those who select, those who transform. And every mistake, even a small one, affects the entire supply chain. But the opposite is also true: every correct action multiplies value.

It’s not a technical issue. It’s cultural
These days were not just training. They were a small cultural investment. Because talking about paper means talking about: daily habits, responsibility, awareness. And above all, it means debunking false myths: that recycling is useless, that everything gets mixed anyway, that paper automatically means deforestation. Reality is more complex. But also much more interesting.

What remains
At the end of the two days, the feeling was clear: we didn’t simply explain something. We sparked a doubt. A curiosity. A different way of looking at a simple object like a sheet of paper. And this is precisely the meaning of Paper Week. Not to tell how good we are. But to make people understand how important what we do really is, every day, often without even noticing.

Il Lunedì con Cartiere di Trevi
#Followthereel – A weekly appointment to stay in touch: ideas, stories and insights from the world of paper and packaging. A simple way to be present. Without disturbing. But with something useful to share.

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