1. You have been nominated to be the 2024 Plastics Recycling Ambassador. What does that mean to you?
I'm very excited about the nomination. Honestly, when I started promoting recycling and plastic in general on LinkedIn one year ago, it was because I wanted to explain to consumers that we are not bad, that plastic is not bad, that it should not be demonised.
I knew a lot of things about plastic that in my opinion were not being communicated to the consumer. I wanted to do my part in changing that – for me, this nomination is a demonstration that I'm doing something good.
In my social media campaign, I started by connecting with a lot of people who are part of our world of plastics recycling. When I had enough followers, I started connecting with people outside of our world. Now I have around 10,500 followers, and around one third is from outside our industry. Many of them are shocked about what I'm writing about, because they recognise that they really didn't know what is fake, what is true. From my point of view, the communication that I'm personally doing is different because I am trying to be as honest as possible. I'm not promoting Fimic, I’m promoting the information that I have thanks to all the suppliers and friends that I have in the industry.
2. What do you think are the main technological developments in filtration at the moment?
In 2015, I recognised that the world of filtration was moving to second filtration. We developed a machine that filters twice in 2015 and now that everybody is asking for it, we can readily supply it. We had the time to test it, and we had the time to experiment with it. Another aspect is that everybody wants to improve the quality of their pellets, so they want to filter as much as possible. However, this must be balanced with reducing contamination at the beginning of the process – material has to be pre-selected, washed, and the filter does the last part of the job. In terms of offering, we are moving as much as possible towards creating a package of filter and pump, for example, as well other components of the line. In this way, extruders can trust one supplier. Step by step, we are growing.
3. How are sales going in 2024 compared with previous years?
2024 is not like 2022, because 2022 beat any statistic. 2023 was good. The first part of 2024 was a disaster for everybody, but now I am seeing that it is picking up again, that everybody wants to improve their lines. Thankfully we are not only working in Europe. In
in 2020, I began to work deeply outside of Europe, in South America, Asia, now we have also hired someone for Africa. You always have to have the vision 10 years before what is happening. When I started outside Europe, everybody was saying ‘why are you going outside? Europe is more than enough for recycling’. Now that we are also out, we are selling more outside of Europe than inside. But it’s a period, I’m sure we will start selling more in Europe again.
4. The Italian plastics and rubber machinery association (Amaplast) announced sales hit a record €4.8 billion in 2023, a 2.8% increase in a year when European machinery orders fell by 23%. What do you think is setting Italy apart?
I have been personally pushing our Italian association to show that we are strong. We have many machinery producers for recycling in Italy. Germany, Poland, Spain, France, and Italy are the main manufacturers, as well as Belgium and the Netherlands. But our country started developing recycling way before the others. When my father started to speak about recycling over 60 years ago, he was way ahead of his time. Italians are recognised as inventors; we have a lot of historical characters that demonstrate that. I think we are creative, that is our special talent.
5. If you had to pick one sustainability trend that will drop off the agenda by 2030, what would it be?
The word ‘sustainability’. ‘Sustainability’ is not sustainability anymore, this word was used too much, and now we need to clarify very well what ‘sustainability’ means for us. So, either we change the world, or we make that very clear. I’m still thinking about what word I would use in its place. Green washing is so dramatically high at the moment. In every product that I'm considering making a new post about, I find fake messages are being passed to the consumers. I think that sustainability is not just being plant-based, or not being produced from oil. We really need to clarify to the consumer that there are many other aspects to sustainability.