Starting from the optimization of the use of traditional packaging materials up to the characterization of all innovative materials, Aetna Group pursues all technologies able to increase sustainability.
In the production processes, in the technologies and in the daily life of all the companies of the Group, the concept of sustainability has become an essential value for making decisions and evaluating processes. What is Aetna Group's reaction to the challenge we are facing today? Investments in digitalization for internal and customer processes, adoption of advanced systems to improve energy efficiency and reduce CO2 consumption, constant search for increasingly sustainable materials and introduction of standards and behaviors that respect the environment and the needs of employees.
This policy is pursued globally through all the Group's subsidiaries and companies, and it finds its highest expression in the TechLab, the research laboratory that studies how to best stabilize loads by reducing the consumption of plastic materials.
The main objective of the research group is to reduce consumption throughout the production process.
Thanks to technologies designed to program the precise amount of film according to the load, and thanks to machines that reproduce real transport conditions (such as the vibrating table, acceleration slides and machines that perform a plurality of tests on packaging materials), tons of plastic material are saved each year and transport space is optimized.
Thus, the possibility of damage and unnecessary disposal of goods is eliminated.
Thanks to TechLab's work, from 693 g of material used for a pallet pack, it has been reduced to 337 g. If we consider a volume of 100 pallets per day, the overall saving is 96.120 kg of film per year.
This is a result that fills the entire Group with pride, as its machines are already ready to open up to recycled and biodegradable film solutions, as well as paper solutions, whose potential is already being tested.
The aim of every activity of the Holding is being able to reduce compostable material, save energy and guarantee the same level of reliability and safety. In fact, it looks beyond its own processes and it considers the end-of-line as the first phase of logistics. The dynamics associated with the world of packaging are very important to the entire community and in Aetna Group they are studied within a broader vision that seeks to facilitate all processes.
This is also demonstrated by the new PACK2GREEN packaging machine, developed to satisfy the increasingly frequent market demand for secondary packaging with completely recyclable and recycled materials. Another solution that looks at the environment is ReCYCLE, the new machine for compacting and reducing the volume of packaging waste materials.
There are many projects aimed at raising awareness of the correct use, reuse and recycling of materials, in a logic of circular economy and, more generally, at promoting a corporate culture focused on sustainability through numerous initiatives and concrete actions. Starting from virtuous companies that use company fleets running mainly on natural gas, from the processes of selection and separation of different plastic materials to facilitate their disposal and reuse, to the introduction of photovoltaic systems that save tons of CO2 year after year.
