Welcome to The Future Circular, the podcast presented by Econyl Brand. Our podcast is the meeting point where sustainability, design, and business strategy intersect to shape a better future for everyone. In today’s episode, we explore the crucial role of responsible supply chains and its impact on creating environmentally friendly business practices. Our guest for today is an expert in the field: Massimiliano Lui, Purchasing Manager at Aquafil. Massimiliano, thank you for being with us today. If we can start with you giving us three words or adjectives that best describe Aquafil?

“Yes, it’s a pleasure to meet you here today. I would start with the concept of endless regeneration. Aquafil Group in the latest years has based its core business upon the regeneration of the Nylon 6. We want to think about the way we make our product, our yarn, and then also how to recycle at the end of the life. We call it not only recycling, but regeneration because it’s something that will last forever. Besides this, I would say Research and Development. R&D is one key point in Aquafil. We always strive to find some new alternatives to make production of our yarn or to sell in new businesses.The third and main, I would say, is the eco-design. In the field of sustainability and closing the loop, in my opinion, the eco-design would play the biggest role. That means that when we think about our product, we need to be sure that at the end of the life of this product we will be able to keep different raw materials, different ingredients separate, and be able to recycle or regenerate.”

What do these three values mean for you both as a professional and personally?

“I’m trying to think when I’m in the office as a professional manager to think as the same way I’m acting at home. Because I think from an environmental standpoint, and having in mind the resources of our Earth that are limited, we need to think the same way. Of course, in the business we have some limitations, something we should do in a different way, but always having in mind what can be the best solution if I had to approach this issue personally.”

Supply chains usually, at the beginning of them, it’s all about sourcing materials. How can the choice of materials affect the steps of the supply chain?

“Of course, in the supply chain we always look for new material. As a purchasing manager, we always try to work together with suppliers to find better solutions that are more sustainable because, during time, we don’t need to stay fixed to the same idea. We are looking a lot in the possibility to take back things, especially packaging, and use it again. In this way, we don’t need to buy more. So the use of virgin raw material in this case would be less.”

Transportation of materials plays a crucial role. How can a business implement this aspect to make the process more sustainable?

“Transportation, of course, plays a big role in terms of impact on the environment. We try to improve things, for example, using all available models of transportation. Let’s say we can use intermodal using railways where the line is available. Or for last-mile delivery, we can use also electric trucks that are more friendly in big cities. Electric trucks are in this moment used also for deliveries inside the ports for transportation of containers.”

Do you have any recommendations about how to reduce the amount of shipments there are in the whole supply chain?

“Yes, sure. We are working in these months in a project where we are trying to load more kilograms on a single container. If we are able to put in a container 20% more of the material, we succeed in taking 20% of containers out of the ship. On a yearly basis for Aquafil Group, it is a big challenge but will be a big thing in reducing the $CO_2$, reducing the transports.”

There is a huge discussion regarding traceability. What do you think about this aspect and is it a good way to improve sustainability?

“Traceability of products makes me think at first step about quality issues. When we need traceability of the single product we are selling, we will be able to check first the quality. But of course, what you are telling is right. In the end, the customer probably doesn’t know much about the history of the product they are buying. So having in mind all the story—where do the raw materials come from, how they are transformed—we can concentrate maybe in finding alternative solutions that can make possible to have production more close to the customer.”

Do you have any sustainable tips on how companies can go about this last phase, the end of life of the product?

“Yes, sure. I think we already pointed out the big importance of the eco-design. We have a big responsibility; we need to take into consideration the full cycle of the goods from production to the end of life. In this way, we can make together, probably together with our customers, a production in a way in which we already know at the end of life how we can dismantle, separate, disassemble all the components. We have another project in Aquafil about the reuse of the pallets we are sending to customers. We started a project of “take-back pallet”. The pallets that come back are all in good condition, 90% of a single delivery is coming back in very good condition and ready to be put on the line to make the packaging of a new pallet to be delivered to the same customer or other customers.”