PPWR and the Future of Reusable Packaging:
CARTONPLAST® Technology Was Born Ready for Circularity
The European packaging industry is entering a new era.
With the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR – Regulation (EU) 2025/40), Europe is accelerating the transition towards a circular economy in which packaging is increasingly expected to be designed for recyclability, reduced use of resources and, where applicable, multiple reuse cycles.
For Agripak, these principles have a remarkably familiar sound.
They have been part of the CARTONPLAST® story since its very beginning.
A vision born more than 50 years ago
In the late 1960s, Marco Terragni developed the technology to manufacture an innovative polypropylene hollow-profile sheet, patented the technology and registered the CARTONPLAST® tradename.
One of the early CARTONPLAST® sheets produced at that time already carried illustrations of boxes manufactured from the material together with a remarkably forward-looking message describing CARTONPLAST® as:
Weldable. Sealable. Washable. Reusable. Recyclable.
More than half a century later, these characteristics have become increasingly relevant as European packaging policy moves towards a model based not only on end-of-life recycling, but also on extending packaging life through reuse.
From a sheet to a complete reusable packaging system
Over the following decades, CARTONPLAST® technology continued to evolve.
Today, Fabio, Massimo and Patrizia Terragni carry forward this technological heritage through Agripak, further developing the original concept with new technologies, patents, extrusion solutions and dedicated converting machinery.
The result is much more than a technology for producing polypropylene hollow-profile sheets.
Agripak provides an integrated manufacturing concept covering the process from raw material and extrusion to the conversion of CARTONPLAST® sheets into finished industrial packaging.
The technology can be used to manufacture a wide range of reusable and recyclable products, including:
- Reusable boxes
- Pallets
- Box pallets
- Layerpads and dividers
- Industrial and transport packaging
Reuse first. Recycle at the end.
This is where CARTONPLAST® technology fits particularly well with the direction taken by the European circular economy.
A reusable packaging product creates value every time it performs another rotation before reaching the end of its useful life.
CARTONPLAST® packaging can be engineered for repeated use while maintaining the mechanical and functional characteristics required by the specific application. Agripak’s dedicated sealing technology can close the sheet flutes, helping prevent dust, bacteria and impurities from accumulating inside them and facilitating applications where cleanliness and repeated use are important.
Dedicated converting technologies allow sheets to be cut, sealed, creased, welded and assembled into finished packaging. Hot-air welding can join polypropylene components without glue or hot melt, enabling monomaterial PP constructions designed with end-of-life recyclability in mind.
At the end of their useful service life, polypropylene packaging can be collected and recycled, and the recovered material can potentially return to the extrusion process to manufacture new products, subject to the requirements of the specific application.
The objective is therefore not simply:
USE → RECYCLE
but a much more circular approach:
USE → REUSE → REUSE → REUSE → … → RECYCLE → NEW PRODUCT
PPWR: a new perspective on reusable transport packaging
The PPWR gives particular importance to reusable packaging in transport and industrial applications.
This represents an important opportunity for industries operating with repeatable logistics flows between manufacturing plants, suppliers, warehouses, distribution centres and customers.
Reusable boxes, pallets, box pallets and layerpads can become part of closed-loop logistics systems in which packaging performs multiple rotations instead of becoming waste after a single journey.
For manufacturers and converters, this transition also creates a need for the industrial technology capable of producing such packaging efficiently and consistently.
This is precisely where Agripak’s integrated expertise becomes particularly relevant.
From extrusion to finished reusable packaging
Agripak’s CARTONPLAST® solutions can integrate several production stages within one industrial concept:
Raw material → CARTONPLAST® extrusion → sealing and die-cutting → creasing and welding → assembly → reusable packaging
CARTONPLAST® extrusion lines can be configured to process virgin, recycled or mixed PP raw materials according to the technical requirements of the final application.
Agripak’s converting portfolio then allows manufacturers to transform the extruded sheet into boxes, layerpads, panels and box-pallet sleeves through dedicated technologies including sealing, die-cutting, hot creasing, welding and assembly.
For box pallets in particular, Agripak has developed dedicated solutions for producing PP hollow-profile sleeves, including hot creasing, inspection-window forming, welding/joining and edge rolling and sealing systems. Machines can operate as stand-alone units or be integrated into complete production solutions.
More than 50 years ahead of circular packaging
The PPWR is changing the way Europe thinks about packaging.
For Agripak, however, the fundamental idea behind reusable and recyclable packaging is not new.
It is the continuation of a technological vision that started with Marco Terragni more than half a century ago and has been developed across generations.
What began with an innovative polypropylene hollow-profile sheet has evolved into a complete technology platform for manufacturing durable, reusable and recyclable industrial packaging.
Today, as Europe moves towards packaging designed for longer life, multiple rotations and effective material recovery, that original vision appears more relevant than ever.
CARTONPLAST® by Agripak.
Weldable. Sealable. Washable. Reusable. Recyclable.
Then, as now.
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