PEF compliance for Radigreen® synthetic turf yarn study

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Environmental impact study validated by Certiquality

Certiquality has recently issued a Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) Statement of Compliance to Tessiture Pietro Radici for its Radigreen® MFL PE, a yarn ideal for the manufacture of synthetic turf. In line with the RadiciGroup sustainability strategy (the first Group PEF certification dates back to 2013), Tessiture Pietro Radici, a Group company engaged in the production of artificial grass yarn, decided to pursue the approach of voluntary environmental impact measurement of its products.

The PEF Statement of Compliance refers to a study of the entire yarn production process – from the extraction of crude oil to the production of polyethylene polymer (used as raw material for the process), down to the manufacture of yarn ready for delivery to customers.

It is a short, traceable production chain, in which the environmental impacts are measured for each and every process phase. The results attest to the fact that the environmental impact of the Radigreen® MFL PE production process is among the lowest in the synthetic turf yarn market.

With the EU Commission Recommendation 2013/179/EU, the European Union introduced the Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) method for the calculation, assessment and third party validation of the environmental impacts of products and services along their entire life cycle.

“We live in a context in which there is much talk about sustainability and reducing the environmental impact of industrial activities, but there is also a need for harmonising the diverse measurement methodologies available today,” stressed Enrico Buriani, managing director of Tessiture Pietro Radici. “By adopting the methodology recommended by the EU, we aim to be as transparent as possible with our customers: we supply them with reliable and comparable environmental data, in light of continuous improvement in performance. Our Radigreen® yarns are all 100% recyclable and, as such, contribute to the recyclability of synthetic turf at the end of its life,” Mr. Buriani added. “With the PEF methodology, we are able to supply accurate identity cards of our products, certified by Certiquality, an impartial third-party verifier.”

The Radigreen® range of products is always evolving and includes yarns endowed with characteristics that ensure the uniformity of the playing field over time. The needed characteristics are guaranteed by the rigorous testing the yarn undergoes before reaching the market: checking the resistance to UV radiation, to weather, and wear and tear in the long run. The yarns are soft but always resistant, minimizing skin abrasion risk while delivering superior resilience.

Radigreen® yarns are subjected to chemical analysis by the Italian Institute for Toy Safety in order to verify that the yarn formulation does not include dangerous substances and complies with safety limits established by the law for the content of heavy metals and other substances hazardous to human health. Test results show that Radigreen® yarns are practically lead and plasticizer free.

“PEF compliance certification,” Mr. Buriani concluded, “is yet another stage in a long journey involving the whole Group and focusing on containing environmental impact and ensuring the health and safety of people. Quality, safety, and respect for the environment have always been the operative words of our production activities.”

For over ten years, RadiciGroup has published a Sustainability Report based on GRI standards, which examines the economic, environmental and social performance of the entire Group.

WHAT IS PEF?

The Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) is a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)-based methodology used to assess the environmental performance of products and services along their entire life cycle. PEF data are supplied with the general objective of reducing the environmental impact of products and services taking into consideration all the activities of the supply chain (from raw materials extraction, to production, utilization and end-of-life waste management). The Product Environmental Footprint project was initiated with the aim of developing a harmonised methodology for environmental footprint studies that can accommodate a broader suite of relevant environmental performance criteria using a life cycle approach. Such an approach is also essential to effective management because important environmental effects may occur “upstream” or “downstream” and hence may not be immediately evident.

RADICIGROUP – With approximately 3,000 employees, sales revenue of EUR 1,147 million in 2017 and a network of production and sales sites located throughout Europe, North America, South America and Asia, RadiciGroup is one of the world’s leading producers of a wide range of chemical intermediates, polyamide polymers, engineering plastics, synthetic fibres and nonwovens. These products – the result of the Group’s outstanding chemical expertise and vertically integrated polyamide production chain – have been developed for use in a variety of industrial sectors, such as: AUTOMOTIVE – ELECTRICAL AND ELECTRONICS – CONSUMER GOODS – APPAREL – FURNISHINGS – CONSTRUCTION – HOUSEHOLD APPLIANCES – SPORTS. The basis of the Group’s strategy is a strong focus on innovation, quality, customer satisfaction and social and environmental sustainability. With its business areas – Specialty Chemicals, Performance Plastics and Synthetic Fibres & Nonwovens (Performance Yarn, Comfort Fibres and Extrusion Yarn), RadiciGroup is part of a larger industrial group that also includes textile machinery (ITEMA), energy (GEOGREEN) and hotel (SAN MARCO) businesses.

RadiciGroup takes the field with the Italian National Football Team: new high-performance artificial grass turf at the Coverciano football technical centre

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The innovative made-in-Italy synthetic turf, manufactured with Tessiture Pietro Radici’s Radigreen® yarn, will give the Azzurri footballers excellent performance in all playing conditions.

Tessiture Pietro Radici, the ancestral RadiciGroup company, is the producer of the polyethylene yarn used to manufacture the synthetic turf covering a new eleven-a-side football pitch, inaugurated on Tuesday, 8 September, at the Italian Football Federation’s (FIGC) Federal Technical Centre (CTF) in Coverciano, with a friendly match between the staff of the Federation and some journalists of the sports press. The installation was carried out following the FIGC technical sector’s decision to upgrade one of the CTF football pitches with artificial grass in order to ensure an ideal playable surface in any playing conditions.

The new synthetic turf was manufactured with Radigreen® MFL PE S-CORE yarn: monofilament yarn made of high-performance polymers, delivering high wear resistance, split resistance and playing field uniformity over time. The turf and the whole system were designed and produced by Sofisport, an Italian company specializing in the manufacture, installation and maintenance of artificial grass fields produced with the most up-to-date technologies.

Artificial grass carpet made with Radigreen® MFL PE S-CORE is an invitation to play: it has the look of natural grass at its best, without the high maintenance cost of natural grass. Moreover, the two-colour versions allow manufacturers to successfully reproduce the various green tonalities of natural grass blades, thus making the synthetic turf even more pleasing to the eye.

Radigreen® MFL PE S-CORE is soft and pleasant to the touch like natural grass. Soft, but resistant – it will not cause skin abrasion, yet ensures excellent resilience. Still another advantage of the product is that it retains its characteristics over time. Indeed, before being placed on the market, the product has to pass rigorous tests of resistance to UV rays, weathering, and wear and tear over long periods of time.

With its 75-year history, Tessiture Pietro Radici (TPR) and its 130 employees guarantee competence and reliability in the production of Radigreen® artificial grass yarn for synthetic turf. The TPR production unit is based in Gandino (Bergamo, Italy), alongside its research and development department that supports production by ensuring continual innovation and retention of Radigreen®’s excellent characteristics and sustainability over time.

The realization of the new artificial grass football pitch in Coverciano was a great opportunity to show how an all Italian production chain – from yarn producer to synthetic turf maker – can guarantee efficiency, innovation and product environmental sustainability. A combination of key features that takes on an even greater meaning, since the end product – 100% made in Italy – is a playing field for the Italian national football team.

As always, TPR’s know-how and responsiveness to the needs of a continually evolving market (such as artificial grass) has enabled the firm to meld the high technical performance and playing comfort demanded by its customers into a specific product: Radigreen® MFL PE S-CORE. The yarn delivers exceptional performance in terms of resilience, its capacity to spring back to an upright position after being stepped on. Consequently, ball roll and biomechanical tests show excellent results over time. These characteristics are of the utmost importance for all pitches where the Italian national football team does its training.

I Maestri del Paesaggio http://www.imaestridelpaesaggio.it/2016/green-square/dettaglio/Clubino-Square/?__locale=it

Curtain going up on “I Maestri del Paesaggio”: Radigreen® yarn among the main players at the event

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Time to “Think wild, live green”. Starting 7 September, the limelight is on I Maestri del Paesaggio [Masters of the Landscape], an international event organized by the Arketipos Association and the Municipality of Bergamo. For nineteen days, Bergamo’s Città Alta [Upper Town] is going to be the splendid backdrop for the event, which features some of the top names in international landscape design and their most intriguing works. RadiciGroup’s  iRadigreen® synthetic grass yarn is also playing a lead role in this showcase of Italian excellence and creativity.

As in previous years, I Maestri del Paesaggio is transforming Bergamo into a special international observatory where spectators can view the landscape in its many facets: reflections, provocations and revelations. From 7 to 25 September, the highly topical issue of modern man’s need to connect with nature and make it part of his daily life is going to be the focus of intense thought by some of the most authoritative green architects, garden designers, historians and photographers. Nineteen days of intense cultural excitement, with a packed programme of events and themes: Green Square, Educational, Green Design, Green Fashion, Green Food, Green Show, Kids, Green Tour, music, photography contests, installations and many land-art itineraries. The 2016 installations erected in in Piazza Vecchia and Piazza Mascheroni are based on the creative ideas of sixteen students from Summer School 2015 directed by Stefan Tischer, a German landscape architect of international repute. Tischer and Annacaterina Piras – internationally renowned landscape designer, architect and co-founder with Tischer of the LandWorks-Sardinia international research programme – have, for the occasion, transformed the splendid Città Alta into a stage for nature and beauty. Lucia Nusiner, landscape designer, and Maurizio Quargnale, lighting designer, have made their contribution to the vegetation design and lighting, respectively, of all of Tischer and Piras’ installations.

RadiciGroup products are present in one of these wild installations, namely the one transforming Piazza Mascheroni into a wild game and adventure park, a tiny wild world covered with a living willow dome and a network of lianas, vegetation and suggestive lights. The square is carpeted with synthetic turf made of RadiciGroup’s MY RADIGREEN® yarn and manufactured by the Italian company SIT-IN SPORT, a leading producer of artificial grass turf.MY RADIGREEN®: a line of exclusive “All In One” combinations of straight and textured monofilaments, which is the hallmark of maximum creativity, innovation, production flexibility, customization and safety. MY RADIGREEN® is the ideal choice for the manufacture of long-lasting turf with excellent appearance that can make the most of public and private green spaces, opening up possibilities for unexpected uses and making outside areas more liveable – all the while allowing for maximum design creativity.
RADIGREEN®’S ENVIRONMENTAL FOOTPRINT MEASURED USING THE PEF METHODOLOGY.
RadiciGroup’s primary “sustainability objectives” include: to measure the environmental impact of its products in a rigorous manner and to provide customers and stakeholders with information based on scientific, verified and comparable data. In order to achieve this objective, the Group has adopted a variety of measurement tools, one of which is the Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) methodology for the calculation of the environmental footprint of its products. The PEF is also being introduced for Radigreen® polyethylene yarn. Shortly, RadiciGroup will be able to provide its stakeholders with all the data on the actual environmental impact of its yarns. This information will be of fundamental importance to its customers – particularly artificial grass manufacturers – who will be able to calculate the environmental footprint of their own products. 

PRODUCT ENVIRONMENTAL FOOTPRINT (PEF) – The Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) methodology was officially adopted in the European Union by the European Commission through Commission Recommendation 2013/179/EU. PEF is a set of common methods to measure, assess, validate (by a third-party) and communicate to stakeholders the life cycle environmental performance of products and services. The European Commission’s approach is based on the principle that a product’s footprint must be measured taking into account all the environmental aspects on which the product can have an impact during its entire life cycle – from the extraction of raw materials and use of natural resources for production to the end of the
product’s useful life and final waste management.

RADICIGROUP

Radigreen® yarn on exhibit at I Maestri del Paesaggio: event presentation in Milan

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A “Green Revolution” from 7 to 25 September in Bergamo: the exhibition I Maestri del Paesaggio was presented at a press conference held at Palazzo Lombardia in Milan on Thursday, 9 June. Again this year, the international event will take place in the splendid setting of Bergamo’s Città Alta [Upper Town] and will feature the most authoritative names in landscaping: landscape architects, garden designers, historians and photographers. A showcase of Italian excellence and creativity, in which RadiciGroup and its Radigreen® yarn will also be taking part.

The culture of the landscape will again be the leading player in Bergamo at the sixth edition of I Maestri del Paesaggio [Masters of the Landscape], an event hosting the most important international landscape artists, as in previous years, and organized by the Arketipos association and the Municipality di Bergamo. Nineteen days of nature and beauty that will transform Bergamo’s Upper Town into an open-air garden featuring “Wild Landscape” as its main theme.

The idea was developed by Stefan Tischer, a German landscape architect, whose projects in Germany, Italy, France and Canada propose new conceptual approaches, a contemporary interpretation of traditional landscape architecture and its transition towards urban studies, architecture and the arts. (In 2003 Tischer received the Prix Belmont, a prestigious award for landscape architecture and urban design, from the Forberg-Schneider Foundation).

The “Wild Landscape” theme and its various aspects will be the focus of workshops, seminars, performances, land-art trails and cultural events: all with the purpose of increasing awareness of the landscape and the delicate relationship between humans and nature.

I Maestri del Paesaggio has been growing year by year – according to Claudia Terzi, councillor for the Environment, Energy and Sustainable Development of the Region of Lombardy, who spoke during the presentation press conference ­– and not only in terms of visitors (there were over 250,000 registered attendees last year). The quality of the activities and the renown of the exhibitors and speakers, including international names in the field of landscaping, have been increasing, as well. The annual show has helped make Bergamo the point of reference and European hub of creativity for landscape design.

And RadiciGroup, one of the event sponsors, will also participate by contributing one of its products: RADIGREEN® polyolefin and polyamide synthetic turf yarn manufactured by Tessiture Pietro Radici SpA, a Group company celebrating 75 years in business this year.

Like every year, Piazza Vecchia in Bergamo’s Upper Town will be transformed into a wonderful outdoor “green living room”. But not only that. A few steps away, in Piazza Mascheroni, another surprising installation will welcome visitors, inviting them to stop and enjoy the colours, aromas, flavours and entertainment. And right there, in Piazza Mascheroni, RadiciGroup will be present with its yarn: the square will be covered with artificial grass made of the Group’s own MY RADIGREEN® yarn. The producer of the synthetic turf is SIT-IN SPORT, an Italian leader in artificial grass manufacturing.

MY RADIGREEN®: a line of exclusive “All In One” combinations of straight and textured monofilaments which is the hallmark of maximum creativity, innovation, production flexibility, customization and safety. MY RADIGREEN® is the ideal choice for the manufacture of long-lasting turf with excellent appearance that can make the most of public and private green spaces, opening up possibilities for unexpected uses and making outside areas more liveable – all the while allowing for maximum design creativity.

RADICIGROUP

Performance and customization: the key RADIGREEN® features take centre stage at FSB 2015

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From 27 to 30 October 2015, RadiciGroup’s ancestral company Tessiture Pietro Radici SpA (TPR) is once again at FSB, the international fair for amenity areas, sports and pool facilities, in Cologne, Germany, where it is showcasing the RADIGREEN® range of polyamide and polyolefin artificial grass yarn.

High performance, maximum freedom of customization, and safety. These are the distinctive RADIGREEN® features that RadiciGroup is focusing on at FSB 2015. The RADIGREEN® yarn range is developed to best meet customer needs and is thus the ideal choice for any use within their scope of application. RadiciGroup’s specific expertise, its long tradition in the synthetic turf sector and its highly flexible manufacturing organization allow it to walk its customers step-by-step through the development process to achieve the best customized solutions according to end-use specifications.
Tailor-made projects are RadiciGroup’s passion! Customized products, formulated with special additives, capable of delivering characteristics according to specifications and maximum performance during use. RADIGREEN® yarns are designed and developed in close synergy with customers: starting from the definition of the specific needs and requirements to the design, sampling, testing and industrial trials. Technical assistance is guaranteed at every step of the process, and production and deliveries are always on time.

RADIGREEN® FOR LANDSCAPING
In the case of landscaping applications – artificial grass for either outdoor and indoor use, residential or commercial installations, fair areas or special design projects –, choosing yarn from the RADIGREEN® product range means choosing the utmost level of creativity, innovation, customization and production flexibility, and safety. RadiciGroup’s Radigreen® polyamide and polyolefin fibres feature performance characteristics that make them ideal for the manufacture of turf with high durability and excellent appearance. Just one example is the My Radigreen® yarn range: exclusive “All In One” combinations of straight and textured monofilaments that give turf makers freedom of creativity, maximum production flexibility and choice from a wide range of colours. Among the main benefits of using artificial grass are reduced water consumption, minimal maintenance, no use of pesticides, an evergreen lawn and maximum creative customization.

Outdoor synthetic turf can bring value to public and private spaces alike, opening up possibilities for unexpected uses of such places and making outside areas more liveable – all with maximum design creativity. Currently the MY Radigreen® range includes: straight PE monofilament + textured PP monofilament, straight PE monofilament + textured PE monofilament, and straight PE monofilament + textured PA monofilament.

Quality and safety first… To develop high-quality, high-performance products while ensuring the health and safety of end users is of central importance to RadiciGroup. This concrete commitment is an integral part of the Group’s corporate policy.
Tessiture Pietro Radici has spared no efforts or resources in the field of safety, particularly to reduce the content of lead and other heavy metals in the pigments used for its yarns. Today, Tessiture Pietro Radici has embarked on another important project on the same front: certifying its yarn in accordance with the protocol recently introduced by the European Synthetic Turf Organisation (ESTO) to assist in assessing the level of quality and safety of synthetic turf landscaping carpets for outdoor use (see related document SYNTHETIC TURF LANDSCAPING FLOOR COVERINGS FOR OUTDOOR USE – ESTO QUALITY CLASSIFICATION).

“The ESTO Landscape Quality Classification,” said Marianna Panico, R&D manager of Tessiture Pietro Radici, “provides guidance in assessing the level of quality of synthetic landscaping products, by establishing criteria and methods for measuring characteristics such as the UV resistance of the materials, minimum discoloration, resilience and heavy metal content. This tool will allow for assessing the quality and safety of landscaping turf by putting these two characteristics on the same footing as appearance and feel in the scale of importance.”
“Developing high-quality, safe products is in the DNA of our company,” Ms. Panico continued. “Our yarn, not only for sport applications but also landscaping, has always been made using certified raw materials. Thus, we are ready for this new challenge, so to speak, launched by ESTO – of which Tessiture Pietro Radici is a founding member. We are planning to wrap up the certification process by the end of 2016.”

The European Synthetic Turf Organisation (ESTO) is an association formed to ensure quality synthetic turf and to provide information on and promote the use of artificial grass, and to help clients and end-users find the most appropriate solutions in synthetic turf systems for their needs. ESTO is a forum for researchers, clubs, leagues and sport governing bodies, local and national offices and councils, groups representing end users and the widest group of synthetic turf suppliers. ESTO is an organisation that brings everyone together to discuss, debate, research and develop the future of synthetic turf. www.estc.info

RADIGREEN® FOR SPORT
In developing yarn for synthetic turf pitches and fields in the sport sector – football, tennis, golf, hockey, 5-a–side football, American football, rugby –, RadiciGroup’s objective is to fulfil the primary requirement of these applications: to develop fibres that last over time, keeping the technical characteristics of the turf unchanged for the longest time possible and preventing degradation caused by the sun’s radiation.

The performance features of RADIGREEN® yarn are fully up to the task of ensuring the durability and retention of playing characteristics. Tessiture Pietro Radici’s product development work – from the choice of polymer and processing technology to the definition of the cross-section shape of the yarn – has focused on making high-durability, high-weavability yarn, while keeping in mind the ease of installation and maintenance of the synthetic turf. An example of this type of yarn is RADIGREEN® HD PE, a fibrillated yarn made with special polymers specifically designed to achieve high tear resistance. The main features of this product are: loom-weavability, ease of installation and maintenance, and high wear resistance over time. TPR production technology produces clean and precise fibrillation, which is essential to prevent the fibre from weakening. RADIGREEN® HD PE yarn can withstand prolonged stress by developing a self-twisting property, a helix effect that strengthens the yarn during its use by increasing resilience and split resistance. RADIGREEN® HD PE yarn ensures a uniform playing surface with good resilience and ball roll. One of the feathers in RadiciGroup’s cap for the sport sector is the RADIGREEN® MFL range of PT and PE monofilaments, products capable of delivering maximum performance on the playing field. RADIGREEN® MFL PA, the polyamide version of this yarn, puts RadiciGroup in a unique position among its main competitors. Thanks to the successful combination of its knowledge of raw materials, the production process and the final application, RadiciGroup is uniquely positioned to design, develop and manufacture new formulations of nylon resin monofilament, like RADIGREEN® MFL PA, and meet the ever more stringent quality and safety requirements of end users. Quality and safety are two distinctive features of RADIGREEN® yarn, which are guaranteed by both RadiciGroup know-how and the certification issued by external FIFA-accredited certifying bodies. The PE version of the RADIGREEN® MFL range is available in a wide variety of cross-section shapes endowing the filament with excellent weavability and ensuring the carpet’s ease of installation, excellent wear resistance and high resilience over time. RADIGREEN® MFL PE carpets are soft and pleasant to the touch like natural grass. They are soft, but always resistant; they do not cause skin abrasion, yet ensure excellent resilience. The UFO cross-section shape has been recently added to the more traditional RADIGREEN® MFL PE shapes – ALBATROS, LOB, MAJOR, PAT, S-CORE.

RADIGREEN® MFL PE UFO is the answer to the specific market request for yarn with a thickness greater than 400 microns.
This particular feature makes the yarn suitable for use on playing surfaces for which the main requirement is to have reduced, yet constant, ball roll values.

OUR SUSTAINABILITY REPORT
September 2015: RadiciGroup has once again lived up to its commitment to transparent communication with its stakeholders by releasing its 2014 Sustainability Report, which gives as faithful as possible a picture of the Group’s industrial activities and achievements in economic, social and environmental sustainability.
For the fourth year in a row, the RadiciGroup Sustainability Report has obtained external assurance at the GRI B+ Application Level of conformity to the Sustainability Reporting guidelines (Ver. 3.1) issued by the Global Reporting Initiative, the most widely accepted global standard for non-financial reporting.

Concrete actions and results on the sustainability front: a few figures…

128 million euros: Investments during the 2010-2014 period to support Group company competitiveness through: research and development, product and service innovation, plant and technology maintenance and introduction of the best available technologies (BAT), improvement in production efficiency, improvement in product and service quality, assurance of employee health and workplace safety. 2.5 million euros: Investments in 2014 just for the environment and safety. –26%: Percentage reduction in total direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions in 2014 compared to 2013. The percentage reduction in total direct emissions in 2014 was –46%. The percentage reduction in total direct emissions in the 2010-2014 five-year period was –78%.
45.3%: The percentage of RadiciGroup’s 2014 energy consumption from renewable resources (mostly hydroelectric energy). In 2013, the percentage was 44.3%. 63%: The percentage of water saved in 2014. www.radicigroup.com/en/documentation/corporate/report

RADICIGROUP – TESSITURE PIETRO RADICI at the international FSB trade fair

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From 22 to 25 October 2013, the FSB International Trade Fair for Amenity Areas, Sports and Pool Facilities in Cologne was the showcase for Radigreen® artificial grass yarn. During the four-day event, Tessiture Pietro Radici SpA (TPR), the ancestral RadiciGroup company and the only supplier worldwide to offer a complete range of artificial grass yarn in both nylon and polyolefin, introduced its latest innovations for the sports and landscaping sectors.

Focus on:

– The new Radigreen® HD PE line of long-lasting fibrillated yarn and the Radigreen® MFL PE PAT monofilament range;
– The Radigreen® MFL PA family of 100% polyamide monofilament;
– My Radigreen®, an exclusive All-in-One combination of straight and textured monofilament for carpets, featuring exceptional softness, excellent coverage and light weight.

Radigreen® HD PE and Radigreen® MFL PE PAT are RadiciGroup’s latest products for the artificial grass market and are specifically designed for sports applications to fulfil one of the primary requirements of this particular sector: a fibre that lasts over time while keeping the technical characteristics of the turf unchanged for the longest time possible and preventing degradation caused by sun radiation. Radigreen® HD PE is a new range of fibrillated yarn, the combined result of the evolution of production technology and the use of high-performance polymers. Radigreen® MFL PE PAT is a new range of monofilaments.

“Today our application sectors and target markets are focusing their attention on a specific yarn performance requirement: durability,” Marianna Panico, Tessiture Pietro Radici R&D manager, explained. “Consequently, that is the direction our product development has taken. From choosing the polymer and processing technology to determining the cross-section shape of the yarn, we have worked on making high-durability, high-weavability yarns keeping in mind the ease of installation and maintenance of the synthetic turf. In the case of Radigreen® HD PE fibrillated yarn, we have used special polymers specifically designed to achieve high tear resistance, and we have invested in a new innovative fibrillation technology. For the MFL PE PAT monofilament, we have developed a solid cross-section shape, free of intrinsic weakness, and have selected a polymer that allows us to achieve superior tuft lock performance, an important feature for the yarn.”

“We have an ongoing commitment to collaborating with our customers, with the goal of providing the best solution for the end use,” Ms. Panico concluded. “It is a step-by-step process, a constant dialogue that leads us to developing tailor-made products and special additivated products, endowed with specific characteristics and ensuring the highest technical performance in their final use.”

MY RADIGREEN®: SYNTHETIC GRASS ITALIAN STYLE …
What about Italian creativity in the promotion of sustainability? It was on display in a recent installation set up in Bergamo for the international event “Masters of Landscape – International Meeting of the Landscape and Garden”. The place chosen was Piazza Vecchia [the Old Square] in Città Alta [the Upper Town], one of the most charming places in Bergamo and one of the most beautiful squares in all of Italy. On that occasion, the square was all decked out in green and transformed into a magnificent garden and outdoor living room.

One of the ambitious objectives of the “Master of Landscape” event – co-sponsored by Radigreen® and its customer SIT-IN SPORT – was to raise sustainable development awareness. The entire pavement of the Old Square was covered with synthetic turf made by SIT-IN SPORT using MY Radigreen® yarn. Tessiture Pietro Radici and SIT-IN SPORT played leading roles in showing how the outdoor use of artificial grass and synthetic turf could bring value to public and private spaces alike, opening up possibilities for unexpected uses of such spaces and making outdoor areas more liveable.

“Masters of Landscape – International Meeting of the Landscape and Garden” was a unique event with a landscape theme organized by the Municipality of Bergamo and the Arketipos association. It took place from 7 to 22 September 2013, following the great success of prior year exhibits attended by over 200,000 visitors. Watch the video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t99xLVIPPfY.

Read the full press release http://www.radicigroup.com/en/news-media/press-releases/radigreen-for-sports-and-landscaping-radicigroup-at-the-international-fsb-trade-fair-13616

Tessiture Pietro Radici Italian production site awarded UNI EN ISO 14001 and BS OHSAS 18001 certification

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RadiciGroup continues its commitment to the environment, human and individual rights, and attention to customers, products and communities. The Group is committed to sustainable economic growth, as reported in its Sustainability Report drawn up according to Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) guidelines.

Tessiture Pietro Radici SpA (TPR), RadiciGroup ancestral company engaged in the production of artificial grass yarn and nonwoven spunbond, has obtained UNI EN ISO 14001 environmental management system certification and BS OHSAS 18001 occupational health and safety management system certification.

TPR also received a renewal of its ISO 9001 certification from a new certification body, Certiquality.

During the past few weeks, Tessiture Pietro Radici SpA (TPR) – RadiciGroup ancestral production company and leader in the production of artificial grass yarn and nonwoven spunbond, sold under the brand names Radigreen® and Dylar®, respectively – celebrated a twofold achievement on the environmental and safety fronts. TPR was awarded two important certifications: UNI EN ISO 14001:2004 for environmental management systems and BS OHSAS 18001:2007 for occupational health and safety management systems. These two recognitions demonstrate RadiciGroup’s concrete commitment to developing, implementing and improving its group-wide policies on environmental and occupational health and safety management. The Group’s primary objectives include the sustainability of its industrial activities, safeguarding natural resources by reducing the environmental footprint of its products, and improving the health and safety of its workers.

“We set out to implement our management systems in accordance with the requirements of the two international certification standards at a fast pace,” Paola Panzeri, quality manager of Tessiture Pietro Radici, explained. “We started the projects for both the environmental and safety management systems in April of last year. During the months that followed, we performed internal audits for the purpose of monitoring the process, performance and progress status. In June of this year we completed step one of the certification, the feasibility audit, and in July, stage two, the actual certification audits, both with positive outcomes. Lastly, in August, the two important certifications were made official.”

Enrico Buriani, CEO of Tessiture Pietro Radici, expressed great satisfaction: “Today, customer loyalty may also be gained and built through the level of reliability we are able to provide. And the actions we have taken to improve the efficiency of our management systems are steps toward strengthening our position as a reliable supplier.“

“I am proud of our achievements,” Mr. Buriani continued. ”The two certification processes required great effort, resources and commitment on the part of all TPR staff at all levels. Our employees worked together as a team, showing their awareness of and strongly participating in all facets of the 14001 and 18001 certifications. I believe that making employees aware of the issues and developing a corporate culture are among the key aspects of certification processes like the ones we have undertaken. This way the work approach is guided by the recognition of the importance of health and safety issues.”