BERGAMO, Italy — November 26, 2020 — In 2019, RadiciGroup continued to pursue the creation of value for its stakeholders: production chain, environment, employees, and local communities and territories. The group’s Sustainability Report, based on the data supplied by 22 industrial sites located all over the world and the parent company, highlights the group’s actions and achievements. Positive performance was achieved through continuous effort to harmonize business goals with optimal resource efficiency and to protect local communities and people. This is how RadiciGroup contributed to reaching the goals set out in the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
“The commitment to more sustainable development from an economic, environmental and social point of view is a topical issue, also — and above all — in a delicate moment like the one we are going through right now. Indeed, this commitment plays a strategic role in the process of economic and social revival and is fundamental to ensure a better future for the generations to come,” Angelo Radici, president of RadiciGroup, commented. “In a dramatically changed context, the sharing of goals, efforts and experiences is central to continuous growth. Also, in 2019, we realized our mission by creating durable value through initiatives shared with all our stakeholders. We knew how to react to the difficulties and changes in the market by remaining united, and this gives me confidence for the future, even though we still have difficult months ahead of us.”
Creating Value For The Whole Value Chain
RadiciGroup’s commitment starts from within its own production chain, which generates a competitive advantage for the company and creates value added for the whole value chain.
A virtuous system based on the exchange of ideas with suppliers, customers, associations and partners, on the one hand, and the circular economy business model, on the other. All efforts are directed at creating durable high-quality products developed by investing in innovation, using low impact and recyclable raw materials, choosing renewable source materials, minimizing waste, enhancing processes and adopting rigorous systems for environmental impact measurement.
In 2019, the Renycle® yarn range was added to the RadiciGroup low impact product portfolio. Renycle yarns are made from recycled nylon and offer 100 percent end-of-life recyclability; they are targeted at applications in the textile/fashion, interiors and automotive industries. Renycle polymer offers a saving of more than 87 percent in energy and 90 percent in water, while achieving technical performance comparable to that of its virgin counterpart. In addition, CO2 emissions are reduced by almost 90 percent.
Creating Value For The Environment
RadiciGroup recognizes the environment as a privileged stakeholder and protects it through initiatives and sizeable investments. In 2019, the group invested 7.6 million euros on enhancing the sustainability of its activities.
Furthermore, the data for the three-year period 2017-2019 demonstrate improvement in the ratio process waste per unit produced, which declined from 9.76 kg/t to 8.85 kg/t (-9.3 percent).
As regards direct primary energy consumption, the 2019 data show a decrease in terms of both absolute numbers (-13.6 percent) and per unit produced (-2.8 percent).
Wherever possible, the group continues to rely on renewable sources: In 2019, the group energy mix included a significant portion of green energy (42.1 percent). Numerous group sites are powered by green energy, and, in Italy, a number of sites rely on the hydroelectric energy provided by supplier-partner Geogreen. In 2019, the choices made by the group to foster the use of green energy and low impact fuels allowed it to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 23.8 percent,compared to the amount of emissions generated by the use of the standard national energy mixes.
Still another relevant result was the percentage saving of water of 70 percent compared to the theoretical requirement (+5 percent saving compared to 2017). Furthermore, RadiciGroup uses no water in its products and does not use water resources to create long-term water storage for its production activities, thus, leaving the water at the disposal of local communities.
Creating Value For Employees
People are a precious resource for RadiciGroup. Respect for human rights, protection of workers’ health and safety, team spirit, striving for continuous improvement and transparent communication are the group’s key values.
More than 90 percent of the Group’s employees have a permanent employment contract. Personalized continuous training plans are provided and over one-third of the total training hours is allocated to health and safety.
Creating Value For Local Communities
RadiciGroup continues to strengthen its relationship with local communities, a relationship based on continuous exchange, also made easier by the proximity of group companies to urban centers. Specifically, in Italy, 80 percent of its workers live within a 20-km radius from the corporate site where they work, just as the Radici family members maintain a strong physical presence in the places where the group was founded and still operates.
In 2019, the group started numerous initiatives for the benefit of local communities, including projects with schools for the development of talent and support for local youth sports activities. The passion for sports as a “gym of life” is expressed through the sponsorship of the RadiciGroup Ski Club, which has over one hundred athletes in the various categories. Also very important is the collaboration with Atalanta B.C., the football club that is a reference point for Bergamo and the entire province.
Today, RadiciGroup offers job opportunities to local young people, passes on solid manufacturing know-how from generation to generation, and promotes a continuous relationship of trust with the industrial firms in the local area. This latter aspect was instrumental in setting up a Made-in-Italy production chain for personal protective equipment during the Covid-19 health crisis.
With a view to continuous evolution, RadiciGroup has created Radici InNova, a consortium dedicated to the Group’s research and innovation activities for sustainable solutions. The new company has collaborations with multiple partners, including external scientific and educational institutions.
Posted November 26, 2020
Source: RadiciGroup
