Who chose EPDItaly tells its story: Amplia Infastructures
Alberto Di Bartolomeo, technical director of Amplia’s Highway Pavement Maintenance Area
Amplia Infrastructures is one of the leading players in the construction scene and has been operating in the national territory for over 50 years in the construction, maintenance, rehabilitation and modernization of roads, highways, bridges, viaducts, tunnels, and service areas. Management and coordination activities are exercised by Autostrade per l’Italia S.p.A., which holds 99.8 percent of the share capital.
The company has decided to rely on EPDItaly to obtain EPD certification for some products.
In this regard, we interviewed Engineer Alberto Di Bartolomeo, technical director of Amplia’s Motorway Pavement Maintenance Area, who told us about the motivations behind the company’s decision to adopt EPD certification and what are the advantages of this document.
What are the main motivations that drove you toward voluntary EPD certification?
The main motivations behind Amplia’s decision to take the path to voluntary EPD (Environmental Product Declaration) certification include the following factors:
– Transparency and competitiveness: EPD certification provides clear and verifiable data on the environmental impact of products, increasing customer and stakeholder confidence.
– Compliance: EPD certification helps meet environmental regulations and certification requirements that are becoming increasingly common in the industry, starting with the issue of decarbonization.
– Innovation: through standardized measurement criteria, it stimulates companies to improve their processes and products, encouraging the adoption of technologies with reduced impacts and increasing circularity performance.
– Reputation: helps improve corporate image, strengthening reputation as a leader in sustainable practices.
Which product(s) in your company has/have obtained EPD? What are its main characteristics?
Hot- and warm-mix asphalt mixes produced. The main characteristics are production temperature and recycled content. By comparing the two different production technologies, progressive levers for improving impacts can be clearly calculated and identified.
What are the main benefits gained from publishing the Environmental Product Declaration? What are the spillovers to the end consumer?
The positive spillovers on the end consumer derive from the increase in transparency on production practices, broadening awareness on the positive or negative impacts on the environment; the advantage obtained through the publication of EPDs also derives from the possibility of comparing data on their performance, progressively aligning the market with best practices, helping to stimulate their use. Finally, the progressive diffusion of the tool should ensure increasingly reliable data, ensuring that sustainability claims have robust information and data.
Do you think EPDItaly can help spread the culture of product sustainability?
Having an Italian Program Operator ensures that the technical specifications are aligned with the relevant territorial reality, and this is supportive in the progressive spread of an authoritative and certain product sustainability culture.
How important, in your opinion, is the presence of Italian sustainable products within a Program Operator that makes the international network one of its strengths?
It is essential in two ways: on the one hand it is a guide, through international requirements, for the development of the Italian reality, while in the other sense it allows us to bring within the international network the instances, experiences and contributions of the Italian operating realities, making us active participants in sustainable development, giving the actors of the Italian industries the possibility to spread their voices, make themselves known and open up to possible new opportunities.