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Aliplast and Zignago Vetro: a partnership based on sustainability

30 September 2022

A longstanding relationship based on sustainability

The partnership between Aliplast and Zignago Vetro started in 2007 and, after 15 years, it’s stronger than it’s ever been: Herambiente, through Aliplast, sells to Zignago Vetro a total of 852 tons of materials produced by employing recovery processes (data from 2021), made in its Empoli and Fossalta facilities with the support of its Poland and France plants. These are mainly recycled LDPE materials for secondary packaging, including caps, pallet top covers and gusseted reels.  

Packaging for bottles and jars: a “Reload” product success story

Every month, Aliplast provides Zignago Vetro the products that are used for the packaging of bottles and jars. These are used as a “middle layer” of packaging to protect the glass that has just been manufactured; they will then be discarded once the bottles arrive to the bottling plants to be filled and then sold. This is a “Reload” product, a brand that identifies Aliplast films that include a very high percentage of recycled materials and combine high strength performance – comparable to the virgin product – with a reduced environmental footprint. The partnership between Aliplast and Zignago Vetro is, however, not limited to providing reels, it also includes part of the plastic waste from other production processes. 

From the recovery of special waste to its treatment: the role of Herambiente

A fundamental contribution is that of Herambiente Servizi Industriali (HASI), a subsidiary of Herambiente that handles company waste.  Herambiente collects mixed packaging (about 40 tons in 2021), including a proportion of plastic packaging other than PE polymers, that are selected and then sent to be recovered. Another material that is collected is HDPE packaging, which is washed in the Castelfranco di Sotto plant and then ground to produce secondary raw materials (about 6 tons in 2021). Between 2021 and the first few months of 2022, HASI has handled about 1000 tons of waste for Zignago Vetro Empoli. Of these, about 40% are special hazardous waste and the rest is non-hazardous. The special waste handled by HASI for Zignago Vetro is cleaning and washing waters, treatment plant sludge, process waste, non-hazardous mixed packaging and contaminated packaging.

Sustainability is part of the company DNA

All the processes that involve the two companies are developed with the aim of higher levels of sustainability. Zignago Vetro is a high production company that, for a long time, has been devoting a lot of resources to lowering its energy footprint. For instance, a large proportion of glass production employs a very high percentage of recycled materials. 

Life Cycle Assessment: data, not just words

Thanks to the partnership with Aliplast and Hasi, the carbon footprint of the company's production processes is further reduced. All of the services provided and products sold to Zignago Vetro are monitored through the LCA (Life Cycle Assessment) method, which asses the environmental footprint of the whole supply chain, taking into account the impact of products such as films, from regeneration to end of life. Specifically, the use of Aliplast products, which are the result of recycling processes, allows the company to save 1.431.360 kg of Co2.

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