THE FIRST EUROVO GROUP SUSTAINABILITY REPORT
COMMITMENT YESTERDAY, TODAY AND TOMORROW
Gruppo Eurovo, a 100% Italian company owned by the Lionello family, is guided by a strong vision towards the future. From animal welfare to technological innovation, from the reduction of environmental impact to a commitment to social responsibility, the Group has always operated with a sustainable approach even before this became an issue of public attention, to the benefit of the environment, animals and people. A responsible philosophy where transparency is a value that defines all Eurovo Group activities in a path of value creation.
In 2022, the Eurovo Group publishes its first sustainability report. The document describes all of the organisation's activities, policies, controls and performance on sustainability aspects as of 2021 in accordance with the Global Reporting Initiative Standards defined by GRI on an "in accordance-core" basis. A strategic tool that has made it possible to tell in an even clearer way the objectives and results for which the Eurovo Group works every day. The report is intended as concrete proof of the commitment to create and distribute value to all stakeholders.
To reinforce this spirit, Gruppo Eurovo recently became a 'Benefit Company', proof of its commitment to protecting the positive impact it wants to have on the planet and society.
Certifications, analyses, investments, projects. The numbers are just the end result of all the effort that the Eurovo Group puts into being an increasingly sustainable, innovative and rigorous company.
New energy for the future
Among the company's main objectives to reduce its impact on the planet is the ability to exploit the roofs of farms and factories as much as possible to install photovoltaic systems. The results are tangible: in 2021, the Group's 15 Italian photovoltaic plants produced around 6,000 MWh of clean energy and saved around 2734 tonnes of CO2. With a view to continuous improvement, Best Available Techniques are applied at owned sites, analysing performance in order to introduce the best practicable environmental option at every stage of production.
Circular economy solutions
In 2021, 76% (+8% compared to 2020) of the packaging used in Italy for both fresh eggs in shell and egg products was made of recycled and recyclable material. As regards fresh eggs in shell, the most used packaging is made of wood pulp, a material made of 100% recycled and in turn recyclable raw material. On the other hand, polystyrene packaging (-68% since 2021) is gradually being replaced by PET and R-PET packaging, a highly recyclable material that has seen an increase of +320%.
For some time, the company has also been studying circular economy solutions capable of giving new life to poultry manure, which, being rich in nitrogen, can be used as a natural fertiliser and as an input for biogas production. In 2021, Eurovo started up a plant at its Mordano (BO) plant, dedicated to transforming poultry manure into pellets, so as to produce a natural fertiliser that can be used at any time of the year, cutting ammonia emissions from fresh poultry manure and reducing the use of chemicals to enrich the fields.
The Eurovo Group has introduced numerous technologies to safeguard water resources so as to reduce the amount of water used per tonne of finished product, such as anti-waste troughs on farms and recirculation and steam and condensate collection systems at its own factories. Finally, the goal of transport efficiency was pursued, optimising loading and unloading journeys along the entire supply chain and setting up an economic geography strategy by locating farms and centres close to large population basins.
Projects aimed at protecting biodiversity
The company is involved in important initiatives for the protection of biodiversity such as 'Naturelle Amiche delle Api' dedicated to bee repopulation. A project that, in addition to contributing to the protection of bees, is proof of how the Group's farms are environments with optimal conditions, where hens live healthy lives. A total of 420 beehives have been installed in the farmland around the farms, of which 120 are permanent and 300 mobile for nomadic beekeeping, guaranteeing a healthy environment in which to breed, in this first phase, around 15 million bees, a number that is destined to grow over time. High-tech solutions have been developed to support the project, such as a scale that measures the bees' productivity on a daily basis, and the production of the Group's first honey in the acacia, millefiori and millefiori primavera varieties, completed in September 2022. Another major 'green' project was carried out in cooperation with the Emilia-Romagna region, 'Mettiamo Radici per il futuro', with the planting of 2,000 tree and shrub plants in a plot of land within the Mordano (BO) farm, to improve the natural habitat and compensate for emissions from the farm. This is just one concrete example of the Group's broader environmental project.
At this link, the complete version of the Sustainability Report.
