ITLAS presents first sustainability report
In its more than thirty years of activity, ITLAS has built its corporate development and image on a lifestyle, a merging and blending with nature to seek that well-being that is increasingly also the common thread of architecture and design. This is why the company, Italian leader in the production and marketing of wood flooring, has chosen to draw up its first sustainability report, presented for the first time in recent days to the Assindustria Venetocentro Sustainability Group.
"Also in the light of the urgency of a historical period that at several levels puts individual, social and corporate responsibility in the spotlight, we have set ourselves the objective of providing a representation, both in qualitative and quantitative terms, of the values and effects that our business activity produces in the sphere in which we operate, reporting on the policies and activities promoted during the three-year period 2017/2019, guaranteeing full transparency towards our stakeholders," says Patrizio Dei Tos, president and founder of ITLAS.
A voluntary first edition, considering that the company is not listed, which highlights Itlas's commitment to contribute to the achievement of the objectives of the UN's 2030 Agenda and to consider sustainability - as also demanded by the Confindustria Charter - the cornerstone of every daily choice.
Protection, restoration and sustainable use of the earth's ecosystem were the focal point, both identity and industrial process. But also access to clean energy, technological development, ensuring sustainable consumption and production patterns, combating climate change, sustainable forest management.
609 cubic metres of beech trunks were recovered from the Cansiglio Forest following the Vaia storm, contributing on the one hand to quickly freeing the forest from the crashed trunks, preventing them from rotting on the ground, and on the other hand giving rise to a campaign to raise awareness in the area and among consumers for the conscious purchase of a product, Assi del Cansiglio, made from the wood of the recovered trunks. The report shows that the commitment to protecting life on earth is in fact achieved by the company together with suppliers and customers, with whom ITLAS communicates in a transparent, continuous and effective manner.
On the wood raw material front, the company has for years chosen to purchase only from certified or sustainably managed forests. In 2019, 1,482 cubic metres of oak (50% PEFC™ and 50% FSC® certified), 780 cubic metres of PEFC™ certified fir and 2,663 cubic metres of panels of which 75% PEFC™ and 25% FSC® certified were purchased.
But the company is also committed to energy efficiency. In 2019, a decrease in electricity consumption of 0.9 per cent was recorded (226 Giga Joules were fed into the grid by photovoltaic panels, reducing CO2 equivalent emissions by around 45 per cent and emissions of ozone-depleting substances by more than 55 per cent), and a thermal energy generation plant fuelled with wood processing residues was activated.
The investment of more than EUR 220,000 in machinery safety technology is a step forward in the search for innovation in the production process. The development of responsible and environmentally friendly production also emerges from the important commitment of On the front of reducing atmospheric emissions due to wood dust extraction systems, painting and biomass combustion, the continuous decrease in COV's (volatile organic compounds) should be noted, which went from 8,018 kilograms per square metre in 2017 to 6,304 in 2019. A figure made possible thanks to the use of vinyl glues and water-based paints. Another important number is that of spent acetone. The presence of a high-efficiency distiller, which recovers almost 80% of the solvent used, allowed 7,093 kg of VOCs to be recovered in 2019.
Health and wellbeing of the end consumer as well as workers are also guaranteed by reducing the presence of formaldehyde in products, which currently has a concentration of less than 0.04 ppm. This result has been achieved over the years both by using only vinyl glues and by the blanket introduction of CARB2 wood-based panel purchases, a Californian certification that is mandatory throughout the United States of America and guarantees the lowest formaldehyde emissions.
With regard to the corporate governance structure, ITLAS was founded in 1988 as a family business and over the years has continued to pass the baton from father to son. Alongside president Patrizio Dei Tos, his mother Carla Fantin and son Matteo sit on the board of directors. But in order to achieve the company's objectives effectively, the Governance system has been structured by opting for openness and the direct involvement of company employees who hold strategic management roles, such as the administrative manager and the production manager. It is also up to Governance to make choices in the field of sustainability, the management and implementation of which in projects is entrusted to the Environment, Safety and Certifications office together with Marketing and Communication.
On the subject of social responsibility, the report highlights the company's strong focus on the local community to which it belongs, with significant economic investments to support sports and cultural initiatives.
