Aliplast and HASI supply industrial waste services to Granarolo

The combined expertise of HASI and Aliplast has enabled the Granarolo Group to achieve better than expected results in industrial waste management in accordance with the principles of the circular economy. Part of the Herambiente group, the two companies operate in synergy to supply closed-loop solutions for the treatment and recovery of the principal types of waste, using waste-to-energy facilities to generate electricity and heat from non-recoverable waste.

As part of its sustainability plan, Italy’s largest milk and dairy producer Granarolo has been working with Herambiente Group for several years to reduce the environmental impact of its production processes. The aim of the operation is to significantly reduce the volume of industrial waste and reuse currently produced waste. HASI and Aliplast have proved to be outstanding partners and have delivered solutions tailored to the specifications of some of the Granarolo Group’s plants, which have now established themselves as virtuous models of waste material recovery and recycling.

The baseline scenario

As in the case of all food companies, Granarolo’s production processes generated a certain quantity of packaged finished product that was not suitable for sale, resulting in waste volumes being sent to waste-to-energy plants.

While incineration allows for the recovery of energy and heat, it is the preferred solution only in cases in which the waste materials cannot be recycled and reintroduced into the production chain so as to reduce waste and costs.

The circular solution of Gruppo Herambiente

Production process waste needed to be treated in such a way that it could be recycled and reused. Since 2004, Aliplast had already been supplying solutions for the collection and recycling of PET bottles and preforms, LDPE films and other plastic waste for the Granarolo plants in Bologna, Gioia del Colle (BA) and Soliera (MO).

The subsequent collaboration with HASI and the signing of the Global Waste Management (GWM) service in 2014 led to improved performance and the recovery of almost all production waste.

For Granarolo, the GWM service involves the treatment of hazardous and non-hazardous waste, mixed packaging and other production waste, and above all high-value services tailored to the needs of individual facilities (approval process support, dedicated project manager, partnerships with qualified suppliers and supply chain improvement plans).

Results supporting a circular economy

Collaboration with HASI has enabled Granarolo to achieve a significant reduction in its mixed waste production (80% less than in 2014). Thanks to optimised and integrated waste management, in 2020 Granarolo was able to recover more than 95% of the waste produced in the facilities serviced by HASI (Coriano, Soliera and Bologna).

The results achieved by Aliplast are no less impressive. In 2020, it collected almost 85,000 kg of PET bottles and preforms, 15,000 kg of LDPE film and 10,000 kg of other waste from the Soliera, Gioia del Colle and Bologna facilities for a total of 110,000 kg sent for 100% recovery to the Aliplast plants and reintroduced onto the market for use as recycled plastic material for packaging.

The partnership between HASI and Granarolo developed further in 2020 with the launch of the Operation&Maintenance (O&M) service for the water treatment facility at the Bologna plant. This additional high-value GWM service involves on-site management and maintenance of private waste and wastewater treatment plants to support the customer’s production cycle as well as planning improvements and/or the construction of new customised treatment plants.