From the Sector

The Tuscan tannery Vesta Corporation has presented to its stakeholders a report outlining its current commitment and future objectives, with a view to innovating, safeguarding and fostering high-end leather material processing.

Ever since it was founded in 1966 in Ponte a Egola, the Tuscan hub for the production of leather for vegetable tanned soles, Vesta has been a supplier and partner of haute couture and sportswear brands, from lightweight calf and half-calf leather, to heavy leathers made with hind and rump hide, for leatherware and shoes.

To draft this Report, reference was made to the “Global Reporting Initiative Sustainability Reporting Standards” established by the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI). The information in the balance sheet refers to the year 2022 (from 1 January to 31December 2022). Wherever possible, data for the previous year are included, to allow for a comparison of data over time and to assess the trend of Vesta activities. Sustainability is an objective-driven process. This means that comparing data allows for concretely measuring the company’s progress, as it pursues this accounting process year after year.

The improvement actions already implemented by Vesta involve corporate responsibility from an environmental, social and governance perspective. An example are the improved heating and processing plants (which entails the construction of a new tumbling department based on 4.0 technology). This guarantees significant energy, water and economic savings. Along with numerous corporate certifications, the company has passed the Raw Material Traceability test with a score of EXCELLENT, as well as the Carbon and Water footprint analysis.

As confirmation of its commitment to improving corporate performance levels, Vesta has been upgraded from BRONZE (2020) to GOLD in 2023, as assessed by the Leather Working Group (which measures leather manufacturers’ environmental performance for ecological production and for a systemic management of quality, environmental, safety and ethical factors).

Becoming energy-independent is a major step in the pipeline, involving the installation of a photovoltaic plant. This is complemented by the implementation of a project aimed at totally compensating its CO2 emissions for the year subject to accounting and certification. This neutrality will be achieved through the acquisition of credits deriving from projects certified by the United Nations. For example, with the construction of an important hydro-electric plant to which Vesta is contributing. With regard to production, corporate research is currently focused on developing solutions to reduce water and energy use. It is also implementing circular trends by adopting an increasing number of bio-based products, to guarantee the most sustainable end-of-life and waste management for its products.

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 new company’s long-standing know-how, combined with RadiciGroup’s as a whole, will create a virtuous production system that 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.

Radici EcoMaterials is a strategic production site because 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 in line with the most recent European policies on sustainable textiles, which address minimizing the share of materials destined for disposal sites, favouring instead more structured recycling solutions.

Radici EcoMaterials is also GRS certified. GRS certification ensures 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 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.

10 years after the installation of the photovoltaic plant in the production units in the Biellese region, the Marchi & Fildi Group takes stock of the operation and publishes the data on energy produced, consumed, and fed back into the grid.

The photovoltaic plant owned by the Group is made up of 11,385 modules divided between the three facilities in Biella (Production), Cerrione (Dyeing mill) and Verrone (Logistics), which in total cover a surface of 16,515 sq.m.

The balance to be drawn from these 10 years is a positive one: in total 22,974,828 kWh have been produced, of which 7,292,027 kWh have been used in company activities, with a saving in energy costs of approximately €1m over 10 years.  

The energy kWh produced and not used by the company was fed back into the grid and corresponds to the average annual consumption of around 4630 families.*

The Marchi & Fildi Group has always been committed to rationalising electric energy consumption with the aim of contributing towards an eco-sustainable development without compromising the rate of production and the ability to grow. In addition to producing its own electric energy, over the years, the company has also achieved an increasing number of Energy Efficiency Titles (TEE), otherwise known as white certificates. In 2021, 138 TEEs have been awarded as a result of such interventions as the introduction of LED lighting and the optimisation of the production processes which, while still as efficient as before, permit the company to reduce the electric energy consumption of the machinery.

*In the meter class for the range of 3kW to 4.5 kW, the average consumption for residential properties is the equivalent of 3,382 kWh (source: Arera Relazione annual state of services for the year 2020). The calculations are the results of an internal study conducted by the Marchi & Fildi Group.