The “Open Plants on the road – The journey towards sustainability” campaign, promoted by ASSOAMBIENTE (the Association representing companies operating in the urban hygiene, recycling, recovery, circular economy, waste disposal and reclamation sectors), has lived its seventh stage at the Humana People to People Italia plant hub, a leading organization in the collection, selection and valorisation of clothing, shoes and accessories, in Pregnana Milanese (MI).
The day, organized on the occasion of the World Circular Textiles Day, began with the opening of the plant to guided tours and continued with the conference on the theme “The EPR in the global textile supply chain: future scenarios between skills, innovation and impacts ” and the debate between representatives of the Associations, experts and stakeholders of the textile supply chain with a focus on the extended responsibility of the producer and the possible impacts on the sector.
“Initiatives such as ‘Open Plants’ have the aim of making citizens aware of the companies that make the concept of the circular economy real and justify their commitment to carrying out separate waste collection correctly. In this case there is a second objective, that of making ourselves known to the producer consortia that will enter our supply chain with the establishment of the EPR (extended producer responsibility) regime. The companies and cooperatives we represent have long experience in the collection, selection and valorisation of clothing waste and we would like to avoid that the resources that will come from eco-contributions end up duplicating activities that we have already been carrying out for decades rather than being used in the sustainable management of clothing waste. selection which, due to the increasingly massive presence of “fast fashion”, is increasingly numerous”, stated Andrea Fluttero, President of UNIRAU (the Association of companies and cooperatives that carry out collection activities, selection and valorisation of the textile fraction of urban waste).
“We are happy to take part in this important initiative at a crucial time of change for the post-consumer textile sector. In fact, in light of the new legislation on Extended Producer Responsibility, a continuous dialogue between sector operators, institutions and brands is essential to build a sustainable supply chain, adopting a global approach. The second hand sector, in fact, employs hundreds of thousands of people in Europe and millions of people in Africa, generating not only an important social impact but also an environmental one: the reuse of a garment, in fact, has an environmental impact of up to 70 times smaller than a new item. This is why we hope that the new directives take these aspects into account and personally involve sector operators in defining a transparent, global and sustainable strategy”, highlighted Karina Bolin, President and CEO of Humana People to People Italia.
Those interested were then able to visit the textile fraction selection plant which has a treatment capacity of up to 12,000 tons per year. The structure includes 23 silos automatically fed by a conveyor belt and 13 stations dedicated to sorting specific categories. The selection phase divides the material collected into 25 product macro-categories up to approximately 65 sub-categories: 65.5% of the input materials are intended for reuse, approximately 27.1% are sent for recycling and a a small part (7.4%) is destined for energy recovery or used as a secondary solid fuel.
The Humana plant that opened its gates to visitors represents the fundamental link in an integrated and transparent supply chain that is powered by the activity of over 5,500 street containers, 6 storage plants, 18 shops, 1 e-commerce channel and numerous collaborations with companies in the textile, clothing and fashion sector.
The “Open Plants on the Road” campaign aims to promote knowledge of the industrial infrastructures necessary for the correct and sustainable management of waste and takes place under the patronage of MASE (Ministry of the Environment and Protection of Land and Sea), of ANCI (National Association of Italian Municipalities) of ISPRA (Higher Institute for Environmental Protection and Research) SNPA (National System for Environmental Protection) and of Sustainability in Lombardy.
