Aliplast and Zignago Vetro: a partnership dedicated to sustainability
Together for the recovery of plastic and the management of industrial waste in the packaging sector
Enhancing resources thanks to plastic recovery and optimal management of industrial waste
The partnership between Aliplast and Zignago Vetro began in 2007, and after 15 years the collaboration between the two companies is more flourishing than ever: Herambiente, through Aliplast, sells Zignago Vetro a total of 852 tonnes of products resulting from recovery processes (2021 figure), from its own plants in Empoli and Fossalta, with the involvement of plants in Poland and France. Specifically, the partnership involves dealing with secondary packaging material in recycled LDPE, including hoods, top covers for pallets and bellowed reels. With regard to the latter, every month Aliplast supplies Zignago Vetro with material that is used specifically for the packaging of bottles and jars. It is an "intermediate" packaging, which serves to protect the newly produced glass and is discarded once the bottles arrive at the bottlers' plants and are then filled and placed on the market. It is a "Reload" product, a brand that identifies Aliplast films with a very high percentage of recycled material, which combine high performance in terms of resistance – equal to those of the virgin product with a reduced environmental footprint. However, the partnership between Aliplast and Zignago Vetro is not limited to the supply of reels but also extends to part of the plastic waste from other production processes. A fundamental contribution is made in this regard by Herambiente Servizi Industriali (HASI), a subsidiary of Herambiente dedicated to the management of company waste. Herambiente collects mixed packaging (about 40 tonnes in 2021), including a part of plastic packaging with polymers other than PE, which is selected and then sent for material recovery.
A personalised service
thanks to the synergy with Herambiente for industrial waste
Another part is HDPE packaging, which is washed at the Castelfranco di Sotto plant and shredded to obtain secondary raw materials (about 6 tonnes in 2021). Between 2021 and the first months of 2022, HASI managed almost 1000 tonnes of waste for Zignago Vetro Empoli. Of these, about 40% are special hazardous waste and the rest non-hazardous. The special waste managed by HASI for Zignago Vetro is cleaning and washing water, sludge from purification plants, process waste, non-hazardous mixed packaging and contaminated packaging. All the processes involving the two companies are developed with a view to sustainability. Zignago Vetro is an industrial company with high production levels and has long invested significant resources to reduce its energy footprint. For example, a large part of glass production is made by using a very high percentage of recycled material. Thanks to the partnership with Aliplast and HASI, the carbon footprint resulting from the company's production processes is further reduced. All the services provided and products sold to Zignago Vetro are monitored by applying the LCA (Life Cycle Assessment) methodology, which is aimed at assessing the environmental footprint in a supply chain perspective, considering, for example, the impact of film from regeneration to end of life. Specifically, the use of Aliplast products, which are all the result of recycling processes, leads to savings of over 1,431,360 kg CO2.
2022 data
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