PHOTO | VIDEO | Waste, Legambiente and Conou indicate the virtuous transitions:the Mecomer case

MILAN – Waste management is a strategic area on which the full affirmation of the circular economy as a production and consumption model depends.This is why Legambiente, in partnership with Conou (Consortium of used mineral oils, active in the management and treatment of special waste for 36 years) has chosen the Mecomer from San Giuliano Milanese (Milan) as the protagonist of the 21st stage of his national campaign “The Construction Sites of the Ecological Transition”, dedicated to projects and innovations that stand out in the country for sustainability and circularity.For 36 years the company, which has been part of the Sechè Environment group since 2019, has been active in the management and treatment of hazardous and non-hazardous special waste from various sectors:industrial, chemical, petrochemical, pharmaceutical and artisanal.

In 2023, Mecomer managed 126,000 tons of hazardous and non-hazardous waste sending more than 70% of it to thermal destruction for energy recovery.On the waste oil collection front, it contributed to the work of Conou, of which it is a concessionaire, collecting 1,169 tons of used oil from small and medium-sized producers, to which 500 tons of emulsion were added.All the used oil collected was then sent for regeneration in selected Conou plants, to be sent to a new life.Mecomer is a company with quality safety and environmental standards, equipped with innovative air treatment and extraction systems that allow emissions into the atmosphere to be reduced, and a fire safety system that makes the entire plant safe, in which hundreds of employees are employed.

“The success of the circular economy depends on correct waste management, in particular special waste which, if not adequately treated, risks compromising human and environmental health”, declares Stefano Ciafani, national president of Legambiente, according to whom the application of the circular model “has positive repercussions on the environment, because contributes to combating the climate crisis, removes the risk of dispersion and reduces polluting emissions and imports, and furthermore, on a social level, promotes savings on energy bills".

What Legambiente wants to highlight with the 21st stage of the Transition Construction Sites is exactly what it is the crucial role of the circular economy, which as Ciafani observes, "requires a further push in terms of technological investments to be less dependent on countries producing fossil fuels and raw materials important for our economy, and to support more competitive and sustainable green economic growth".

As Riccardo Piunti, president of Conou, states, the Mecomer plant was identified because it "demonstrates how the management of critical and dangerous waste that our industry produces can be done with absolute respect for the environment and the territory, as well as the health of citizens".Furthermore, as Piunti underlines "this can also happen by developing quality employment (technicians, chemists, engineers)", because "circularity, the environment also mean growth and development of new professions and new technologies".THE Construction sites of the Ecological Transition is a Legambiente campaign that starts in May 2023 with the aim of telling the spread of the ecological transition in Italy, through the stories of construction sites, projects and innovations that invest in environmental sustainability and circular economy.You can find out about the campaign's path on the site cantieridellatransizione.legambiente.it, which collects with insights, photos and videos all the updates on the virtuous paths implemented by businesses, communities and administrations to combat the climate crisis, promote circularity and build a better future.

PIUNTI (CONOU):98% REGENERATED MINERAL OIL

“Conou organizes the used mineral oil supply chain with 60 collection companies and 2 regeneration companies:it collects all the mineral oil used in Italy by regenerating 98% of it, therefore it creates what is now called a circular economy, but it really does it in the sense that we actually have total circularity".This was stated by Conou president Riccardo Piunti, on the sidelines of the stage of the 'The construction sites of the ecological transition' campaign promoted by Legambiente, who this morning visited the Mecomer headquarters in San Giuliano Milanese.Mecomer is a Conou dealer and leader in the management of hazardous and non-hazardous waste which is located in two platforms, one in Milan and another in San Giuliano.

“There is a lot of talk about energy transition, when talking about energy, but - Piunti specifies - in reality the other theme, the important one, is that of the withdrawal of resources from the planet. Every year, 100 billion tons of materials are removed worldwide, whatever they are.Well, if we don't achieve circularity quickly in all sectors, perhaps like what we do in Italy with mineral oil, the planet - highlights President Conou - won't be able to do it".

Piunti also underlines the virtues of the Mecomer platform, especially in terms of health protection, for workers but also for the surrounding area:“Here we are in an industrial waste collection site - he observes - and this is a very important component that of safety and health", in short, it is important that the site "does not damage the environment, nor put the health of employees at risk and I believe that - he adds - this is a beautiful example of a plant that has been recently redone and where all this is looked at with extreme attention."

IN SAN GIULIANO MECOMER MANAGES 225,000 TONS PER YEAR

“We are a platform that manages approximately 225,000 tonnes of waste per year, divided approximately 50% between solid and liquid waste, and carries out mixing and preparation operations of materials which are then almost entirely destined for waste-to-energy with energy recovery".Mecomer CEO Luca Rebolini explains it on the sidelines of the twenty-first stage of the Legambiente national campaign entitled 'The Construction Sites of the Ecological Transition' and aimed at discovering virtuous realities such as that of San Giuliano Milanese around Italy.Mecomer is in fact a company specialized in the management of hazardous and non-hazardous waste, with two offices, the second of which is in Milan.The first platform, however, the one based in San Giuliano, was the subject of a visit by Legambiente which, accompanied by the Conou Consortium of which Mecomer is part, examined the site's activities in depth.

The company, as Rebolini explains, "was born in 1998 from an entrepreneur who had seen the capacity for collection, micro collection, as a fairly interesting business", to the point of evolving to the point of becoming a leading company in the sector, with a turning point occurred 5 years ago, when the transalpine giant Séché Environnement acquired the majority shares of the Italian company, “leading it to become not only a national but an international player, especially at a European level.As a result of this acquisition, an investment of around 28 million euros led to what you see today, with the investments completed in 2023, and aimed on the one hand at expanding the plant's production capacities and storage capacities, but on the other, intervening in a particular way in the field of environmental protection and above all in enabling the people who work within the company to do so in a safe and more efficient manner".As the CEO of Mecomer explains, in fact, "the site is within a fairly populated industrial area, so this aspect is particularly important for us, also to protect our image and our name".

CIAFANI (LEGAMBIENTE):ON CIRCULAR ECONOMY ITALY, EU LEADER

“On the circular economy we have international leadership, certainly European, which we don't say much about, which we don't claim much for”. This was stated by the president of Legambiente Stefano Ciafani, today visiting the Mecomer in San Giuliano Milanese, a plant belonging to the Conou consortium which manages and treats hazardous waste, the protagonist of the twenty-first stage of 'The construction sites of the ecological transition', the campaign promoted by Legambiente to promote the virtuous realities of the country in terms of circular economy.“Obviously, we often focus on the still unresolved issues in the country:I am thinking of some territories in waste emergency, from Rome to Sicily, or of the illegal disposal of special and even dangerous waste that we talk about every year with the Ecomafie Report".However, for Ciafani, Italy "above all has many realities, both public for the collection of municipal waste made in a differentiated way, and for everything that concerns the industrial chain which sends for recycling and then safely disposes of what cannot then be sent to recycling” and this is a picture “that Europe knows not too much and which - he adds - we should tell more about, also with great pride".