Telling the story of Italian leather’s sustainable value. Today a new Green Week starts, as the Green Economy Festival in Parma begins, before ending on July 11th. A chance to tell the story of the most sustainable manufacturing practices of Italy. An event that renews its appointment with UNIC – Italian Tanneries and other entrepreneurial enterprises that will open their doors to those that want to find out more about the sustainable craftsmanship of leather, on July 8th and 9th.
Green Week
Since 2011, the Green Week explores the frontiers of the green economy all around. The event is split in two parts. During the first 3 days, the tour focused on discovering “Sustainability plants” takes place, while after that it heads to Parma for the Green Economy Festival, with high-profile visitors or different origins: economics, finance, institutions. The common denominator of the presence is sustainability. Among those is UNIC – Italian Tanneries, together with tanneries Dani and Montebello, at their site of Medio Chiampo and by Dal Maso Group.
Italian leather’s sustainable value
On Friday, July 9th (15:00) the first event tied to tanning will take place. The main speakers will be: Fulvia Bacchi (Director of UNIC), Viola Dalle Mese (marketing director of Conceria Montebello), Giancarlo Dani (CEO of Dani) and Patrizia Pierro (Legal and Brand services at UNIC). Together, they will make up the seminar titled “Pelle, ecopelle, plastica e materiali alternativi: il valore delle parole. Chi è più green’?”, (or Leather, eco-leather, plastic and alternative materials: the value of words. Who is the greenest one?”. Always on July 9th (18:00) Luigi Culpo (general director of Medio Chiampo), Giuseppe Fongaro (coordinator of the R&D laboratory of Montebello) and Fabiana Orlandi (Environmental Services with UNIC), will compare notes on “La risorsa idrica: un bene da difendere” (or Water: a resource to protect).
Third on the schedule is tanning: Saturday July 10th (11:30). Andrea Sapri (Head of environment, energy and security at Dani) will discuss circular economy during the talk “Da scarto a risorsa, un concreto contributo all’economia circolare” (or From waste to resource, a concrete contribution to circular economy). With him will be Pietro Succol (environmental manager of Dal Maso Group) and Giacomo Zorzi (Director for the Veneto region with UNIC).
Open doors
The physical path to discover Italian leather sees UNIC as the guiding force, and will develop within the Vicenza tanning district. First stop: visiting the production sites of Dani and Montebello to explore all phases of the tanning process, from raw hide to finished leather. Second stop: Medio Chiampo, water treatment system, completely owned by the state, which treats the wastewater coming from the tanning process. Third stop: the transformation process of waste originating from the tanning process. Here Dal Maso Group, among the top operators helping Veneto-based tanneries, will show how it recovers the waste created. For example: salt and mud inside the Arzignano location, which was recently renewed. The goal: to use the recovered salt as spreading salt for icy roads and to make other waste safe for disposal.
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