The Challenge of the Circular Economy

The production of traditional packaging requires a large amount of resources, including oil, energy, and water. By using packaging made from recycled materials, we are able to reduce the amount of waste sent to landfill, energy consumption, and the resources required to produce new packaging.

Our packaging is 100% recyclable and our pallets are made from wood sourced also from forests certified under the FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) system, meaning responsibly managed and traceable forests.

Starting in 2025, we have chosen to replace our white packaging with natural brown cardboard packaging, which is lighter but offers the same performance as the previous one; a choice that makes a difference for the environment. The switch to brown cardboard is expected to contribute to a reduction in emissions of over 2,000 tons of CO2 (data source for the calculation: FEFCO – European Federation of Corrugated Board Manufacturers [ES8.1]), thanks to the greater sustainability of the supply chain linked to the production of this new packaging, which requires fewer raw materials, less transport, and consequently lower fuel consumption. In addition, brown cardboard allows the recovery of 80% of post-consumer paper, compared to 60% for white cardboard.

The use of next-generation printers in all offices represents a further step toward the responsible use of resources. To date, 180 new machines have been installed, reducing environmental impact thanks to lower energy consumption: on the one hand, the toner cartridges of these printers are smaller and generate less waste to be disposed of; on the other hand, printing is faster and allows a greater number of pages to be produced using less energy.

By purchasing these printers, the Group also participates in global and certified reforestation projects.

We recognise water to be an essential resource for the communities in which we operate, and we are committed to guaranteeing efficient and responsible water use in all processes and products. Thanks to efficient management, we recover 100% of the waste water generated by the production of tiles. This avoids industrial wastewater being discharged into water courses or sewers. We achieve a water recycling rate of 118%, which also includes water from other companies in the sector.

Production of tiles generates a certain portion of waste material, inert waste which would generally be sent to landfill, wasting energy and transport. Our technology allows us to recover 100% of fired and unfired waste scraps from tiles rejected due to defects or breakages, grinding everything which was previously considered waste back up into the raw materials.

We also recover raw waste from our customers. From the wastewater of the washes, we recover the solid part by decantation, called ceramic sludge, which we reuse in the production of the mixtures. The residual dust from the dry squaring plants is dissolved in water and reintroduced into the raw material grinding mill.

A total of 99.6% of waste deriving from the production process and maintenance is consigned to specialist firms for recycling. Only 0.4% of all waste generated within the company ends up landfills.