Nuceria: A converter, user and others: the partnerships that make the difference

An expert, proactive converter - Nuceria Group - and two forward looking brand owners, who are all planning out a future where packaging is, at one and the same time, sustainable and “different”, in the way the consumer demands. The tale of Italsilva (domestic and personal detergents) and Petti (food preserves) tells of two fine stories of sustainability and the relaunch of the brand via a highly special label.

An ecological story
The circular economy, or that is: the sustainable lightness of success
The increase in consumption and world population calls for new solutions and a more creative approach
to the circular economy. Like, for example, the recovery of production waste - in particular the silicon paper backings left over after the pressure sensitive labels have been applied to the flacons. Generally treated as waste and sent to landfills, the rolls of silicon paper are now recycled to become raw material for the production of cardboard.

A proposal that can only come from a company that has creativity in its DNA - in actual fact a
concern that invests 3% of its turnover in R&D and is aware of how much a broader vision
can lead to alternative solutions. In this context Nuceria Group confirms its position as the hub of sustainable development, aiming at minimizing waste, lowering costs and, more than anything
else, attaining production with the least possible impact on the environment.

Objective O-waste: a virtuous chain Thus the project implemented for - and together with Italsilva
(gruppo Desa), in compliance with the European standards on the circular economy and inspired
by a model of sustainable growth that aims at zeroing waste thanks to the reuse of resources,
came into being. From production waste silicon paper has thus been turned into a resource, for
Italsilva but also for other companies who receive it as a secondary raw material to be fed back into
the production cycle.

This by way of Nuceria, the Italian detergency sector group, founded in Seregno in 1908 by
Ambrogio Silva, and which came into contact with C4G (Cycle for Green) for the retrieval and
processing of glassine (the waste in the labeling process Ed.). The Finnish company is in actual
fact specialised in the recycling and recovery of paper coating. Its reliability and proven capacity
has allowed a lot of manufacturing concerns in various sectors to find an alternative to landfills,
incineration and down-cycling. In the case in point the results are considerable because the
silicon backings account for up to 35% of waste produced by the labeling works.

Thanks to a agreement with an Austrian papermill and the devising of an innovative technology for
removing the silicon from the paper fibre, C4G has created a completely closed flow of material,
that turns the waste into cellulose based recycled material, to be fed back into the production cycle,
what is more all to the advantage of the environment: Each year Italsilva generates around 180 t of
liner and C4G calculates that its recycling leads to a lowering of CO2 emissions by about 360t/year.
A project for all types of concern This virtuous circle was triggered by the Nuceria Group, bridge
between the two companies and driver of a project that opens out to new, a lot more sustainable
opportunities. And that can be declined to suit the measure of all companies open economic as well
as ecological advantages in their way of working.

Indeed the Nocera (SA) based group, active throughout Italy with branches in the north and
south of the country, is involved in a constant quest for the best - and at times alternative - solutions,
that lead to an integrated and sustainable production system, for a human scale future.

Marketing stories
When opportunity encounters preparation: a project in three phases

1. Petti chooses the “No label look” Quality, Made in Italy, green orientation, a broad variety of products and care for packaging. With these strategic assets Petti, historic Italian food preserve producer, active since 1925, has made the tomato the undisputed leader of the Italian meal table. And continues to do so thanks to a farsighted management headed by Pasquale Petti, that represents the fourth generation to head the group along the way to bio products, wholesome ingredients, environmental respect and packaging innovation. A packaging that, as is well known, represents one of the most powerful marketing levers and, over and beyond the function of protecting the product, has to communicate brand values.

Here we go on to the involvement of Nuceria Group in the project of restyling the line, with the task of
locating the most suitable material for highlighting the tomato and communicating to the end consumer
the excellence of the product and its intrinsic values.

Seeing is believing «In Petti’s packaging - Nuceria tells us - we have made the invisible visible, or that
is the values of the Petti Group, and we have done so with a personalised bottle and transparent label. “The tomato is at the centre” and the name of the Petti brand products evokes the centrality of the tomato on the packaging, as well as in the Italian food tradition and in the Mediterranean diet. All these values are transmitted by the transparency that allows you to go beyond the barrier of the pack to reach the contents, and to build a relationship of faith with the consumer thanks to an effective, direct communication, without catches and equivocation».

Nuceria Group has done so by adopting the no label transparent label look that allows one to
see the product in its entirety and optimise the packaging process by increasing application
speed, as well as reducing machine stoppages and preventing the forming of unsightly air bubbles.

With an added result: the cold application of a gilded laminate (Luxoro 220) makes the new Petti tomato packaging elegant and attractive, conferring on the product a premium positioning.

2.Nuceria is the sustainable pack, or that is recover and convert for the success of the entire supply chain Over and beyond the single packaging solution, Nuceria Group work adopting organizational/
management tools and assets aimed at improving the environmental, economic and social sustainability of the company. «We are convinced - Guido Iannone, general director of Nuceria in fact
declares - that only sustainable development will allow future generations to manage to continue and at the same time to preserve the quality and the quantity of the natural resources. Hence the objective of the entire company is to make economic development compatible with social equity and the ecosystems, in a regime of environmental equilibrium».

An advantageous solution: PET liner While often being underrated by the labeling works, PET liner,
compared to silicon paper liner, that is disposed of as mixed waste, presents many advantages of
recyclability and production efficiency. The first important difference between the two materials concerns the gauge, considerably reduced in PET liner, with various advantages: the amount of liner discarded is less and the cycles between the roll changes are longer because each roll contains at least 20% more labels. Hence one also has a consequent reduction in transportation costs and the storage space taken up by the rolls of labels.

In terms of performance, PET liner is sturdier, and hence guarantees less breakages and greater
speed in the label application stage. As well as that, being a plastic material, it ensures a greater
cleanliness on the packaging line.

Lastly, the positive effects in terms of savings clearly derive from all that has been expounded.

3. How much an all-round consultancy is worth Nuceria has provided the Petti group a true allround
consultancy of best packaging in terms of sustainability and appeal. But not only that. Fielding the tools and expertise required, it has analysed the potential consumption of its customer and devised a mathematical model capable of highlighting advantages in terms of efficiencies and costs.

Nuceria has thus given Petti support both in pre-production as well as in the production stage, attaining in 2016 alone, for an output of around 18.2 million pieces, a total saving (between direct
and indirect costs) of nearly 40 thousand euros. This result has been possible thanks to the partnership woven by Nuceria in time to build an operational network at national level and capable of managing the recycling of the liner in all its phases. In this case, Nuceria placed Petti group in precontact with Romei Srl, longstanding specialist in the recovery of industrial waste of polymer producers and converters, that has enabled them to recycle Petti’s liner and the subsequent collection
of the derived material in special white bags. The virtuous cycle fielded by Romei avoids disposal in
landfills or incineration, both pollutant, and reduces the consumption of non renewable combustible fossils; as well as that all residue is eliminated in that the material is treated at extremely high temperatures (>2000C) and the ashes and the heavy metals are incorporated in the end product.

With positive effects also in economic terms: a contribution of 50 euro/t is given for collection.
Two stories with their moral The case histories drawn out here teach many things and suggest an
“open” conclusion. In the green circular economy models defined here, in which every company is
fundamental in the attainment of growth, the successful supply chain fielded by Nuceria and the partnership with Petti and Italsilva confirm the capacity of the southern Italian group to build virtuous relations. And bear witness to the position it has achieved as leading company, capable of perceiving ever new horizons, renewing its own objectives and working to build a model of sustainable development for future generations.