WASTE

The amount of waste generated by production activity is minimized by adopting specific recovery procedures. The waste is delivered to organizations authorized to carry out recovery and disposal activities in accordance with the regulations in force. Most such waste relates to the processing of unfired and fired materials and is recovered, above all at Group plants authorized to do so. Smaller quantities derive from the use of wood, plastic and paper packaging, which is subject to sorted collection: in 2021, 56,051.4 tons of material were recovered and reintroduced into the product cycle.

Global warming is a urgent problem, the main cause of which is the increasing concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Thanks to their ability to absorb carbon, trees are an excellent ally in slowing down this global phenomenon. Trees store CO₂ through photosynthesis, a process that allows them to capture carbon dioxide from the atmosphere as they grow. In the course of 2021 in the Italian plants alone, the Group sent 851,460 kg of wood for recycling , a 13% increase on the previous year. Furthermore, thanks to the proven recovery system for the wooden crates used to ship large ceramic tiles in 2021 we recovered 13.51% of the 66,234 packages sent to the customer.

Also with a view to developing a circular economy and correctly disposing of wooden packaging, the europallets used to transport our materials abroad, particularly Germany, have for many years been dealt with through our membership of the Interseroh consortium, an organization that deals with integrated waste management, in line with the circular economy model. The handling of europallets is a virtuous process implemented along one of the most important links in our supply chain, which is the supply of finished products. This also directly benefits our customers who, by returning the pallets to Interseroh are making a sustainable choice as well as improving their business performance as the process also reduces disposal costs.

In 2021, thanks to recycling, we saved 3,113 tons of virgin material and reduced greenhouse gases by 475 tons, an improvement of 40.80% and 41.89% on the previous year respectively

As regards plastics, GranitiFiandre has been using flexible polyethylene packaging for years as part of the packaging waste management system recognized by the Ministry of the Environment. This is packaging produced using up to 90% recycled plastic derived from regeneration processes. The LDPE film destined for Italy is covered by the PARI System, which provides for the collection and direct recovery by Aliplast of at least 60% by weight of the volumes released onto the market consumption by the producer. Aliplast operates across the Ceramics District in particular, collecting flexible LDPE packaging (similar to that placed on the market as new packaging), creating a virtuous packaging-waste-new packaging circuit. 

As a result of its decision to entrust Aliplast with collecting flexible LDPE packaging in 2021, GranitiFiandre has sent 101,41 tons of waste for recycling. Once uniformly sorted by color and thickness and fully recycled, it becomes regenerated polymer and used to produce new packaging. Given that the saving achieved by producing recycled polymer rather than virgin polymer is 1,665 kg of CO₂ per kg of granular LDPE*, the overall emissions saved by the waste collection activity at GranitiFiandre (considering a recycling rate of 95%) is 160.41 tons of CO₂ equivalent.

* [Specific LCA (Life Cycle Assessment) analyses show that the impact in terms of emissions of a ton of regenerated polymer is only 399 kg of CO2 equivalent, compared to 2,059 kg for the same amount of virgin polymer. (Analysis based on 2019 data) https://www.aliplastspa.com/FILES/AP00142-SISTEMA-PARI_ese.pdf ]

Finally, various other types of waste are generated by different kinds of maintenance work (ferrous materials, oils and fats, electrical and electronic waste, demolition waste, etc.) including some a special nature. Shown below is the quantity of waste produced by the Group, distinguishing between hazardous (H) and non-hazardous (NH) waste and the destination of the waste (recovery, disposal in landfills, separate collection of paper - plastic - wood).