Index of contents
1 A brief overview
The circular economy is one of the trend topics of today's industrial debates, and it's often related only to product life and its impact on the environment. In Bozzetto Group, instead, we focus on achieving an optimal sustainability level at a product, industrial, and people level.
We implement processes to reduce energy and water consumption, CO2 emissions, and wastewaters in our facilities. We select renewable raw materials to develop biodegradable and high-performing products. We protect our employees with an optimal working environment, valuing the balance of work/private life.
Stokomin EBZ is the outcome of these sustainability goals applied to pulp activators.
2 Raw material's sustainability
The green approach starts from the very beginning, with the analysis and applications of raw materials. We select sustainable and high-quality raw materials worldwide and collect information on sources' quality; we study the raw material origin in-depth and carry on detailed tests before approaching the formulation step.
The evaluation process for new raw material follows these steps:
- controls by the quality department of sources and certifications
- state-of-the-art analytical research to detect and report any byproducts or harmful substances
- laboratory trials with R&D and application team to evaluate performances of the new raw material
STOKOMIN EBZ raw materials are biodegradable (OECD 302 B) and do not contain phenol or phenol derivatives, SVHC, or REach relevant molecules.
3 Process and downstream process sustainability
Process sustainability is related to two main areas of concern: control and optimization of internal production processes and development and optimization of new methods for customers.
Internal processes' optimization consists in increasing yield and reducing waste through:
- quality management under ISO 14001
- up-to-date reaction control systems
- continuous improvement of reaction processes through R&D
- technology development for workers' safety and health
- accurate monitoring of wastewaters and emissions.
The new processes to support customers' sustainability improvements are developed in our innovative viscose pilot plant:
- Our state-of-the-art pilot plant can be adapted to produce any viscose fibers, ranging from standard grade to semi-modal, modal, and tire cord
- We can study process conditions and chemical consumption for the production of any new grade of viscose based on starting raw material and process limitations
- With our equipment and knowledge, we can evaluate any new grade of pulp, with concerns to filtration, parameters' optimization, and final fiber performance
- Based on actual process conditions and our deep know-how, we can optimize the downstream production process, both in economics, productivity, and final fiber quality.
4 Our Eco Standards
Bozzetto Group is one of the first bluesign® system partners as a supplier of fibres auxiliaries. The partnership is focused on granting high levels of safety for both people and the environment, responsible use of natural resources, and continuous improvement of environmental performance. Bozzetto fibre product range is now labelled bluesign® approved.
After several years of successful collaboration, starting from 2020, we joined the Zero Discharge of Hazardous Chemicals (ZDHC) programme as contributors. We choose to support the programme's vision of widespread implementation of sustainable chemistry and best practices in the textile industries to protect consumers, workers, and the environment. We are proud to be joining 30 leading brands working together to drive industry-wide changes in the responsible management of textile chemicals.
Another important step on the path of green chemistry has been our products' Global Recycled Standard (GRS) compliance.
All our fibre products meet the GRS standards:
- strict criteria for social and environmental principles in processing products;
- restrictions on hazardous chemicals used in the life cycle of fibres;
- minimal impact of fibers production on people and the environment.
