347 million CO2 equivalent tons emissions avoided thanks to recycled rubber used instead of virgin rubber, 3.2 billion energy kWh saved; 1.3 million water m3 unused in the production cycle of virgin rubber, of steel and of other tyre’s components. These are the main environmental evidences of the Sustainability Report 2013 presented today by Ecopneus together with Edo Ronchi of the Sustainable Development Foundation, Massimo Beccarello of Confindustria, Sen. Giuseppe Marinello President of the Senate Environment Commission, Hon. Ermete Realacci President of the Chamber’s Environment Commission and Barbara Degani State Undersecretary of the Ministry of the Environment.

Ecopneus’s system is based on a companies’ network (56 logistics companies for ELT collection and transportation, 27 treatment companies and 11 plants for energy recovery) which with 689 operators directly employed allowed in 2013 the recovery of 247 thousand ELT tons collected at 33 thousand dealers all over the national territory. Ecopneus efficiently re-used a total economic value of 73.9 million Euros collected through the environmental fees, reduced in the past three years on average by 23%, so allowing also a saving on raw materials’ import estimated in 110 million Euros.

In Italy cultural and bureaucratic barriers – comments Giovanni Corbetta, Ecopneus Managing Director – slow down the use of ELT rubber, vice versa very popular throughout Europe and many other Countries for  two main applications, such as road surfaces and football artificial fields and sports surfaces. Changing the pace in this direction would allow the development of that recycling society which represents a EU political pillar for the environment”.

Ecopneus’s Sustainability Report 2013 was prepared by the Sustainable Development Foundation.

Ecopneus’s model – states Edo Ronchi, President of the Foundation – is a virtuous example of the way to create employment and value added for the Country by aiming at material recycling and energy recovery derived from products at the end of their lives. By using the Foundation’s approach it has been possible for the first time to give a measure of the environmental, social and economic impacts connected to ELT collection, transportation and treatment activities, as well as of the chain’s contribution in the transaction toward Green economy in Italy”.

The Report presentation falls exactly a year after the signature of the Memorandum for ELT extraordinary collection in the Land of Fires, an agreement which allowed – thanks to resources made available by some of Ecopneus’s Partners – to remove over 85,000 tons of abandoned End of Life Tyres in the Provinces of Naples and Caserta, so taking them away from criminal uses as fuel for toxic fires. Besides the interventions in the Land of Fires, from 2011 to today Ecopneus carried out 9 other collection operations from old stocks, removing over 41,000 ELT tons, completely at its own expense.