Milan, 23 September 2019 – SICIT Group was awarded with the ʺTechnology and Innovationʺ prize at the Green Carpet Fashion Awards (“GCFAʺ) held yesterday in Milan. The event – which has an international resonance and has now reached its third edition – celebrates the sustainability goals achieved by the fashion and luxury industry worldwide.
The award confirms the Company’s commitment to sustainable development models: SICIT, forerunner of the circular economy, has been offering since the 1960s a service of strategic importance for the Vicenza district of the Chiampo valley – the most important in Italy for the tanning industry and one of the most important in the world – as it collects and transforms the residues of leather processing into high-added-value products for agriculture and industry, limiting the production of waste to almost zero. The biostimulants and retardants produced by the company are totally biodegradable, without risks for the public health and the environment.
The “Technology and Innovationʺ has been delivered to the Chairman Valter Peretti, together with the CEO Massimo Neresini and the Chairman of Intesa Holding Rino Mastrotto. The GCFA – organized by the National Chamber for Italian Fashion, in collaboration with Eco-Age, with the support of the Ministry of Economic Development, ICE Agency and the City of Milan – has been assigned at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan. The awards reflect the fashion companies’ʹ commitment to sustainability and their ongoing dedication to balancing the need to activate rapid changes that respect the environment, while preserving the tradition and authenticity of small producers.
The tanning industry is one of the most virtuous industries, as 99.5% of the raw material comes from residues of the food industry: downstream, the percentages of separate waste collection since 2002 have not fallen below 91% of and in 2010 reached 98%. In recent years, the sector has greatly invested in the circular economy, given that most of the waste produced comes from animals and must be disposed within 48 hours: the tanning industry has therefore been focusing on the reuse of waste in other production chains or within the same tanning cycle, rather than on its disposal.
As planned, at the beginning of the year, SICIT completed part of the work in progress on its plants in Arzignano and Chiampo, allowing to further reduce its already minimal environmental and energy impact. Thanks to its effort in R&D, during the summer completed an important new process innovation that will allow, together with a considerable increase in production efficiency, the recyclability of animal hair, an animal by-product of tanning processes that until now required to be disposed mostly in the water purification system of the district.
Massimo Neresini, CEO of SICIT Group, said: “It is a great honor for us at SICIT to receive this prestigious award. I would like to dedicate this prize to all our collaborators and to UNIC because it pays tribute to the intuition that almost 60 years ago some enlightened entrepreneurs of the tanning industry from Veneto had. For almost sixty years we have been implementing the circular economy in the tanning industry, which is even before the term was conceived. Thanks to our action we give new life to the waste that remains from the processing of leather, creating green products that improve the qualitative and quantitative performance of plants, as well as the recyclability of materials for construction. Tthis is the result of a continuous path of growth and innovation, of our cutting-edge laboratories and of the collaboration with the university world, our multinational clients and with the entire tanning chain.”