Those who have chosen EPDItaly tell their story: Holcim Spa
Marco Salina – Sustainable Product Development Manager e Riccardo Bianchi – Plant Manager Unità Produttive di Ternate and Merone – Holcim Spa
What are the main reasons that pushed you towards the voluntary EPD certification?
RB: Holcim Italia as the Italian branch of the Holcim Group shares its objectives and strategies. Therefore, with the aim of being a leader in providing sustainable and innovative solutions to build progress for people and the planet and accelerate the ecological development of our cities, we offer products and solutions whose effectiveness in terms of reducing environmental impacts must be tangible and the EPD is a tool to give concrete demonstration of the quality of our solutions.
Which product of your company has obtained the EPD? What are its main features?
MS: In line with what Riccardo has just stated, we have decided to proceed with the EPD for all the binders included in our product portfolio. The main characteristics of our products highlighted by the EPD indicators are the specific CO2 emission and the amount of thermal replacement resulting from the use of recycled fuels to replace traditional fossil fuels.
What are the main advantages obtained from the publication of the Environmental Product Declaration? What are the repercussions on the final consumer?
MS: The main advantages are linked to the fact that this document allows us to offer our customers an additional tool of choice to participate in our sustainability objectives. Thanks to the objective, comparable and credible information on the environmental performance of our products, contained in the EPD, our customer is in fact able to choose the most suitable product, not based exclusively on mechanical and qualitative performance but paying attention to the environment and thus entering to be part of the system of solutions that as a company we implement to achieve the net zero goal.
Do you think that EPDItaly can contribute to spreading the culture of product sustainability?
Of course, nowadays there is talk of environmental sustainability everywhere. It is therefore essential that there are “authoritative” sources on the subject. I believe that EPD Italy can be one of these, increasingly strengthening its role of disseminating all national and European initiatives, regulations and standards, as well as good practices also coming from private sector companies.
How important, in your opinion, is the presence of sustainable Italian products within a Program Operator that makes the international network one of its strengths?
RB: Attention to the planet today is no longer a matter of some, it is a matter of all. Having an international visibility on the environmental performance of our products can only help us and help the Italian market. Confronting with similar realities in an international context allows everyone to be aware of what good they are already doing but also of what margins for improvement there may be. And we experience this every day thanks to our dimension as a multinational company that allows us a continuous exchange of know-how and expertise with the companies of the Group. This aspect is an additional opportunity also for the end user as he is able to better evaluate the differences between his possible local suppliers.