Over the last years, we carried out several initiatives to make our manufacturing plants more efficient and sustainable.

Thanks to the new tri-generation system, at the Cermenate Rio Mare manufacturing plant we can now self-generate electric, thermal and cooling energy. The idea was born in 2017 in the Engineering department to reduce energy costs and the environmental impact resulting from the use of traditional fuels. The initiative involved a number of specialised firms in order to identify the technical solution best suited to the characteristics of the system: a medium- to-large tri-generator in relation to the installed base in Italy, with approximately 2,700 kW electrical, 900 kW thermal, and 1,100 kW cooling power. The heat resulting from the production of electricity is recovered by a boiler to generate steam and by a system for the production of chilled water, thanks to an optimised use of energy and natural gas. This initiative has allowed a 5% monthly saving in electricity. In addition, the tri-generator allows the self-production of more than 50% of the electricity needed each month.

We have adopted several measures to reduce energy consumption also at the Home & Personal Care manufacturing plant in Nova Milanese, dedicated to home and laundry care products. In our assembly lines, we have installed a sleeve machine to apply labels and stickers, which now works on steam produced using methane gas instead of electricity while in the compressors room a new automatic system allows for usage optimization according to actual needs. As regards lighting, we are currently replacing the metal-halide lamps in our warehouses with LED lighting. We have reduced thermal dispersion by compartmentalising the packaging department and replacing office fixtures. Overall, the work performed in 2019 has resulted in energy consumption at the Nova Milanese plant being reduced by 10% compared to 2018.