Delta, of the Plados Telma Group, and Gees Recycling, together for the LIFE GREEN COMPOSITE project

Savina Pianesi is Head of Research and Development at Plados Telma.

He gave an interview about Delta's collaboration with Plados Telma Group and Gees Recycling for a project co-funded by the European Unione through the LIFE call, called LIFE GREEN COMPOSITE.

? Savina, can you explain what the LIFE GREEN COMPOSITE project is and what the collaboration between Delta of the Plados Telma Group and Gees Recycling consists of?

LIFE GREEN COMPOSITE is a co-funded project by the European Unione through the LIFE call. It involves two entities, led by the lead company Delta of the Plados Telma group, a leader in the production of composite sinks, and Gees Recycling, which develops circular solutions for various types of industrial waste and scraps, as well as scientific support as a consultant from the Department of Chemistry of the University of Camerino.

It was interesting and worthwhile to combine skills for the common goal of no longer sending any scrap or waste to landfill, but to valorise it and give it a second chance. Hence, Delta's by-product became a recovery material for itself in the production of GREEN sinks and for Gees Recycling in the recovery and recycling of industrial composite waste in the production of GREEN panels.

The result of the collaborationone is a concrete testimony of how the circular economy can act as a driver for a more innovative industry with less impact on the environment.

? What role does material recovery play in Delta of the Plados Telma Group?

Plados Telma approached this issue over 10 years ago, in 2012, with a European call from the LIFE programme. The objective of the project called GREEN SINKS? was the production of 'green' sinks made with recycled raw materialby replacing organic raw materials with recycled ones.
It was very innovative for the period and was awarded by the European Commission (in the person of the current Ministry of Ecological Transone) as the best project of 2015. In April 2017, the European Commissione once again recognised the importance and value of the Green Sinks project, dedicating ample spazio to it in the public one LIFE and the Circular Economy?.
In 2022 we started a new over EUR 3 million project called Life plus GREEN COMPOSITE? LIFE 21 ENV / EN/ 101074703 [2022 ? 2025], which aims at industrial symbiosis to produce acrylic mineral composites from recycled and traced production waste in a replicable circular value chain.
From this initiative, the sink RINNOVA.
The project in fact envisages recycle 100% of the annual waste from our sinks, allow the productionone and marketingone of a production lineone for green sinks completely made of recycled materials. In addition, introducing newly developed solid-colour composite worktops to the marketone with improved performance.
As is evident from the regional and European projects developed and the activities carried out, resource recovery is a central, challenging but also clearly achievable goal.

? The collaboration between Plados Telma and Gees Recycling in the LIFE GREEN COMPOSITE project is also an excellent example of how companies can join forces to tackle the great challenge of sustainability.

The idea was to create an innovative range of greener kitchen sinks and worktops: harnessing industrial symbiosis to produce acrylic mineral composites from recycled production wasteone traced in a replicable circular value chain

By creating a new, green production line in Delta where all materials used are recycled, internal or external.

Delta's Chemical Laboratory analysed green materials and formulated a new type of dispersedone with recovered raw materials to offer the market the new, fully recovered RINNOVA range.

The new green production line includes facilities such as the tank for the green resin, the reactor dedicated to its production process, and a system to grindone the sinks and off-cuts to obtain a recovered grit to be used in Delta's internal production and especially in the production of Gees.

The objective of producing sinks from secondary raw materials is achieved by means of circular solutions, thanks to new milling and coating technologies, product design, and the reuse of production waste from such sinks to improve the performance of the recycled composite kitchen tops and panels.