Who chose EPDItaly tells its story: Cancellotti S.R.L.

Giovanni Mariotti, CEO of Cancellotti S.R.L.

Cancellotti is an industrial group of excellence and in constant innovation in the field of concrete precasting for the road, rail, metro, industrial and water treatment sectors. The Umbrian company has decided to rely on EPDItaly to obtain EPD certification for some products.

In this regard, we interviewed Giovanni Mariotti, CEO, who told us about the motivations that led the company to adopt EPD certification and what are the advantages of such a document.

What are the main motivations that pushed you toward voluntary EPD certification?

Our company has been on a clear sustainability-oriented path for a few years now, well described in the 2023-2026 Business Plan presented to stakeholders earlier this year. With a view to developing the company on ESG issues and, above all, measuring the progress made, the decision was made to present our first sustainability report and to undertake the procedure that led to obtaining voluntary EPD certification of our main product lines.

Which product of your company has obtained EPD? What are its main features?

The company has obtained EPD certification for some of its main product types: concrete road safety barriers, the company’s core business and a product with which we are a national market leader, have been certified, with an additional specific EPD certification for the “Abesca H120FAST” barrier, a latest-generation, high-performance model that raises the safety standards of road users in the event of a collision, and has a particular ease of installation and removal making it easier for operators who choose it. In the domestic concrete barrier market, by the way, we were the first player to obtain EPD certification paving the way for a virtuous path that we hope will lead to an improvement in the entire industry. In addition to barriers, our other EPD certified products were precast ashlars for tunnel lining and one-piece tanks for water treatment.

What are the main benefits gained from publishing the Environmental Product Declaration? What are the spillovers to the final consumer?

More than an advantage over our competitors, what we want to achieve with EPD certification is definitely a greater awareness, leading to a path of improvements, perhaps gradual but steady, both process and product, finalized to reduce the environmental impact of our business.

Certainly, the positive impact on our customers and final users is determined by the transparency of communication inherent in the characteristics of products and, more generally, of production processes; this also facilitates the possibility of comparison, becoming an important analytical tool for our customers and, for us, a source of constant improvement.

Do you think EPD Italy can help spread the culture of product sustainability?

I believe that for any strong change in business behaviors and processes to happen successfully, it has to start from the culture; that is why, as I mentioned, we started from afar, mapping out a clear ESG path that guides the choices of staff and management, that leads us to choose dedicated training paths, that puts sustainability at the center of investments. In this context we certainly believe that EPDItaly, can play a decisive role in spreading the culture of product sustainability, thanks to its professionalism and communication skills.

How important, in your opinion, is the presence of Italian sustainable products within a Program Operator that makes international networking one of its strengths?

Fundamental. As much as our business is mainly oriented toward the domestic market, we cannot fail to take into account the dynamics taking place at the international level, especially on a topic as transversal and universal as sustainability. Comparison always generates opportunities for development, and when the goal is as important to everyone as in the case of sustainability, comparing becomes a necessity.