Zato is based in Brescia, Italy, and specialises in the design and production of metal-recycling plants and machines. How do you position yourself in relation to European regulations concerning environmental issues?

We started our business twenty years ago when circular economy wasn’t already the trend.

But sustainability has always been the cornerstone on which we have always driven our projects and support our customers in the development, design and realization of recycling plants.

We specialise in the treatment of scrap and scrap metal, mainly Iron and Aluminium which are the most recycled metals in the world.

Considering that the cost of producing aluminium from recyclable sources is 5% compared to using the conventional route, which starts from extraction of the ore, I would say that for us the Green Deal is a continuation of the choices made 20 years ago.

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Can you explain the value your plants obtain from scrap metal?

Let’s consider, for example, an old vehicle ready to be scrapped. As a matter of fact, it’s waste. It contains a high percentage of ferrous material, aluminium and alloys, tyres, electric cables, glass, rubber and plastic.

Therefore, reintroducing the vehicle as it is into the metal-regeneration process is impossible, due to the presence of all these impurities.

Our plants can shred and separate different materials by categories and turn them into secondary raw materials.

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Materials that can be introduced into the production cycle as a replacement of raw materials that are often the result of a high environmental-impact extraction processes.

The better performing our plants are in terms of recycling efficiency and purity of recovered and recycled materials, the more sustainable steel plants and foundries that use these materials can be.

This way, we minimise energy consumption and emissions.

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So we can say that Zato is betting on innovation?

We don’t have alternatives!
Continuous innovation and environmental sustainability are essential to maintain our presence on the market and are the biggest challenge and opportunity of our time.

We want to provide smart solutions that are technologically innovative, economically competitive and help create circular economy. We promote technologies that aim at developing processes with zero climatic impact.

The application of Artificial Intelligence to our machines has inspired us to adopt new and ambitious policies concerning green growth and circular economy promoted by the EU within the Green Deal project, of which we are enthusiastic promoters.

Is this Green Deal project an opportunity for Zato?

The Green Deal project is an incredible opportunity for our company, which is deeply rooted in Italy and has numerous long-standing references in Europe.

Our market has expanded so much that today we operate in 50 countries. In the past few years, we have been focusing on developing countries with a more recent industrial history, where we can bring our experience and competencies.

Therefore, it’s not only the Green Deal project but the entire global system that is slowly but surely focusing on topics that relate to us the most.