Circularity

We recognize our industrial processes involve heavy water consumption, and we know water is a precious resource that must be preserved. Due to our global presence, we have developed tailor made initiatives that consider the specific requirements of each plant location and impact. For this reason, we have implemented a consumption reduction program in each of our plants.

In regions where water is scarce, like in Morocco and Ecuador, we decided to use only seawater that is desalinated.

Some examples of our current initiatives and achievements:

• Revamping the wastewater treatment plant in O Grove which will drastically improve our water impact.
• To date, best practices are being studied to reduce further the water used in sterilization and cooling utilities.
• The closure of several water cycles in our Cermenate plant, based on the GMP (Good Manufacturing Practices) and the Food Safety standards.
• The modification in some plants of thawing techniques to significantly reduce our water consumption.

We are working towards having the same degree of purification efficiency in all our production facilities, allowing us to drastically reduce our impact. This along other water saving initiatives will be reached following the water footprint analysis and risk assessment to evaluate future actions.

We distinguish ourselves by our meticulous resources management process, where approximately 99% of our waste undergoes recycling and recovery operations at authorized plants. In particular, waste, such as paper, cardboard, plastic, wood and metals, related to the packaging used for production purposes is allocated for recycling or reuse.

The packaging for our finished products mainly consists of cardboard, tinplate and aluminum, which are, all recyclable materials, and 88% of them are already coming from recycled sources.

We continually innovate our packaging, aiming for lighter and more sustainable solutions. We analyze the entire life cycle in accordance with ISO 14040 standards.

In collaboration with our suppliers, we are working towards increasing the recyclability of these materials.

To reduce our impact on the planet, we are continuously researching new technologies and methodologies including implementing important advancements in our packaging. In fact, we won different prizes among which the CONAI, the Italian Consortium for Packaging, ‘Special Prize’ for reducing the aluminum thickness from 0.24mm to 0.20 in our Rio Mare’s Insalatissime packaging. This initiative resulted in a saving of 30 tons of aluminum in one year; equivalent to producing approximately 2.9 million cans.