15 June 2021 | Online event
The LIFE GREEN VULCAN team organized a special online webinar on the 15th of June with a purpose of presenting the project and widening the possibilities for a sustainable rubber industry. The event was divided into several segments, gathering the most relevant speakers to express a global sector view, evaluate the European agenda towards sustainability and interpret Italian relaunch and investment strategies.
The webinar was introduced by Aurelio Politano, Senior Project Adviser of the European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA), who explained key drivers and mid-term roadmap for the forward-looking sustainability related policy framework and provided an overview of the EU funded LIFE instrument to support sustainability driven innovation. Fabio Pegorin, Business Development Manager of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) Raw Materials, highlighted EU’s mandate and ability to innovate in relation to the governance of the Critical Raw Materials, which include Natural Rubber since 2017. Daniela Bernacchi, General Secretary of the United Nations Global Compact Network Italy, closed this segment of the event with a review of climate change related actions and targets that are shaping the ecological transition.
Julie Tedeschi, Senior Sales Manager at Allianz Global Investors, Guido Panizza, Head of Project Management at LifTT and Massimo Rinaldi, European Funding Development Business at Warrant Hub provided a high-level overview on, respectively, how sustainability and impact investing, venture capital and EU related R&D funding opportunities are providing effective leverages to steer and support sustainability related innovation.
Aimed at significantly increasing the recycling rate of rubber from the end-of-life tires and driven by the natural resource and GHG emissions reduction targets, the LIFE GREEN VULCAN project combines a highly selective devulcanization technology with nano and micro structured modifiers. This innovative solution is demonstrated within an industrial setting for the production of two high-spec rubber-based components, namely a Passenger Car Radial tire tread and an automotive component for commercial vehicles, a spring pad. Following the description of the project provided by Francesco Di Pierro, LIFE GREEN VULCAN project coordinator and Innovando’s business development manager, each partner shared their project contribution and value creation approaches to make a concrete contribution towards their mid long term sustainability targets and strategies by increasing the reuse rate of the production and post-consumption rubber waste.
LIFE GREEN VULCAN project partners and their representatives, Marco Musaio on behalf of Bridgestone, Marika Falciano on behalf of Centro Ricerche Fiat and Stellantis Group, Francesco Di Pierro from Innovando, Filippo Fochesato – Rubber Conversion, Michele Rabito Cresimanno – Stellantis and Nicola Pugno – University of Trento, demonstrated how purposeful companies and educational institutions with strong profiles on material science are leading the sustainability innovation path.
This webinar hosted several important representatives of the European and Italian rubber and tire manufacturing and recycling industry, namely Fazilet Cinaralp, ETRMA’s Secretary General, Fabio Bertolotti, Director of Assogomma and Andrea Fluttero, President of UNIRIGOM who provided their contribution not only in representing the fundamentals of this industry and of its impact on the European and Italian economy, but also in drafting the sustainability related challenges and opportunities that it is facing. These speakers emphasized the potential and the role devulcanization technology can play for the rubber industry. Finally, a collaborative effort between institutions and private sector has been highlighted as mandatory for the circular transition.
Willingness of the institutions to collaborate with the rubber-related supply chain with an aim of implementing the most concrete actions which will fully support the implementation of these innovations has been indicated in a dialogue LIFE GREEN VULCAN project opened with several departments of the Italian Government, precisely: Ministry of Economic Development, represented by Francesca Giannotti, Expert of the Circular Economy and Policies for Sustainable Development Division and the President of the VIII Commissione Ambiente della Camera Alessia Rotta, each providing a reflection and experience exchange related to the dynamics that are defining the evolutionary landscape at national and European level.
