Radici EcoMaterials means 360-degree sustainability
A recycling production site offering the market traceable, high-quality, environmentally friendly materials.
A little over three years have passed since RadiciGroup announced the acquisition of Zeta Polimeri, an Italian company headquartered in Buronzo (VC) with over 30 years’ experience in the recovery of pre- and post-consumer synthetic fibres and thermoplastic materials. Today, the company has become a full member of the Group with its new name Radici EcoMaterials Srl.
The name quite aptly describes the nature of the company’s activities: indeed, Radici EcoMaterials occupies a position in RadiciGroup at the forefront of the recycling field, thanks to its cutting-edge technology that optimizes its high value-added sorting and recovery processes.
The new company’s long-standing know-how, combined with RadiciGroup’s as a whole, will create a virtuous production systemthat recovers worn-out materials (fabric, yarn and granules), or otherwise unusable materials, and processes them into raw materials available for other production cycles by taking advantage of industrial synergy.
“This is truly a circular economy business,” Angelo Radici, president of RadiciGroup, emphasised. “We collect scraps and waste from our Group plants, as well as from external companies, and determine the most appropriate recycling destinations. RadiciGroup has already had some forty years of experience in recovering post-industrial waste from all its processing activities and giving it a second life in the world of engineering polymers. Now, with the expertise of Radici EcoMaterials, we can also produce recovered materials of very high quality, nearly equal to virgin raw materials, ready to be used by our spinning lines to manufacture products that meet the textile market’s demand for low-emission, sustainable products.”
Radici EcoMaterials is a strategic production sitebecause it handles all the preliminary recovery stages: the sorting, processing and pre-treatment of materials, including those used for the production of post-consumer yarns and engineering polymers. In this sense, Radici EcoMaterials is fully in line with the most recent European policies on sustainable textiles, which address minimising the share of materials destined for disposal sites, favouring instead more structured recycling solutions.
“We can call our strategy a 360-degree approach to sustainability,” Maurizio Radici, Vice President of RadiciGroup, added. “In fact, owing to Radici EcoMaterials, we can now handle both pre- and post-consumer recovery activities and optimize the materials in a “zero waste” operation. During the last few months, we have also invested in new technologies to further improve the quality of the products headed for our spinning lines – for both carpeting and textile applications – and to double the production capacity of the site.”
Radici EcoMaterials is also GRS certified. GRS certificationensures the complete traceability of its materials, which are made in a safe plant that meets the highest environmental and social certification standards.
The company is also equipped with a state-of-the-art photovoltaic system and, for the portion of its energy needs not covered by the photovoltaic source, it partially relies on renewable energy. The goal is to use 100% green energy in the next few years, in accord with RadiciGroup’s goals.
With approximately 3,000 employees, sales revenue of EUR 1,508 million in 2021 and a network of production and sales sites located throughout Europe, North America, South America and Asia, RadiciGroup is one of the world’s leading producers of a wide range of chemical intermediates, polyamide polymers, high performance engineering polymers and advanced textile solutions, including nylon yarn, polyester yarn, yarn made from recovered and bio-source materials, nonwovens and personal protective equipment for the healthcare field. These products are the result of the Group’s outstanding chemical expertise and vertically integrated polyamide production chain and have been developed for use in a variety of industrial sectors, such as: automotive – electrical and electronics – consumer goods – apparel – furnishings – construction – household appliances – sports. The basis of the Group’s strategy is a strong focus on innovation, quality, customer satisfaction and social and environmental sustainability. With its business areas – Specialty Chemicals, High Performance Polymers and Advanced Textile Solutions –, RadiciGroup is part of a larger industrial group that also includes textile machinery (ITEMA), energy (GEOGREEN) and hotel (SAN MARCO) businesses.
