ILPA GROUP: 5.5 MILLION FOR CIRCULAR ECONOMY PROJECTS

Financed by INTESA SANPAOLO, AMP Recycling will support the technological progress of the plants and the expansion of the types of recyclable materials.

VALSAMOGGIA (BO, 04 March 2021) – The circular economy is at the heart of the AMP Recycling development project. The ILPA Group company, which also includes ILIP srl and MP3 srl, has obtained a 5.5 million euro loan from Intesa Sanpaolo under the scope of the 6 billion allocated to help with business transitions towards the new economic model aiming to separate development from the exploitation of finite natural resources.

The Ferrara-based company will be using the funds to increase the technological level of its recycling plants, which are one of the key points in the closed cycle and vertical integration of the R-PET chain within the ILPA Group. This will also benefit ILIP, naturally, in its production of recycled plastic food packaging. The investments will also allow for an extension of the range of types of plastic and waste to be recycled and recovered.

In 2007, AMP Recycling, which has been controlled by ILPA since 2012, added a system for the extrusion and heat-forming of packaging for the vegetable and flower-growing industry, with an important plastic recycling plant dedicated to processing PET bottles post-consumption. The group holds a leadership position in Europe, particularly with its main division, ILIP Srl, which is specialised in the production of heat-formed plastic and bio-plastic packaging for food products. The ILPA Group is one of the few on the continent to have implemented the “closed loop” in the plastic cycle, with complete control of the recycled PET chain that guarantees the origin and traceability of the material used.

The transaction concluded with Intesa Sanpaolo in close collaboration with the Intesa Sanpaolo Innovation Center Circular Economy Desk, a company that deals with all aspects of innovation for the banking group and its customers, shows the desire of the ILPA Group to continue to pursue its responsible growth plan, despite the current difficulties brought about by the pandemic.

Intesa Sanpaolo is one of the world’s most sustainable banks and is included in the main sustainable indexes. It is from this background and with this strong drive towards innovation that the commitment stems to ensuring ESG (Environment, Social, Governance) compliant investments, and the circular economy.

“In line with the environmental sustainability objectives set by our group” – Riccardo Pianesani, CEO of the ILPA spa Group comments – “we intend to pursue the investment cycle on the Ferrara recycling pole in order to improve the qualitative and quantitative performance of our recycling plants. Since 2012, AMP Recycling has invested more than 20 million euros, to which we have now added the projects financed thanks to the Intesa Sanpaolo green loan. This will allow us to increase the use of recycled materials in our group’s production of packaging and semi-finished products. It is an integrated industrial chain that can generate new food packaging from waste, in complete respect of the logics of the circular economy and the rules governing food contact and safety in consumer health. We believe that the post-consumption plastic waste recycling and management industry offers interesting development margins, representing an opportunity for our country that is not only environmental, but also social and economic”.

The Emilia territory is very attentive towards the transition to the circular economy and we are fully committed to supporting this essential asset” – Cristina Balbo, Regional Director for Emilia Romagna and Marche of Intesa Sanpaolo, added – “In order to foster this transition, which is key to lasting development, during the 2018-2021 Business Plan, the Intesa Sanpaolo Group made a circular amount of 5 billion euros available to businesses, thereafter taken to 6 billion to extend availability to the UBI network”.