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Green
Marca Corona on the side of the environment
The wellbeing of man and safeguarding of the environment are core values at Marca Corona, a company that is constantly committed towards increasing the eco-compatibility of its products. Important product certifications and tangible projects have, over the years, led to a truly sustainable corporate development:
- The majority of the Marca Corona ceramic collections are ECOLABEL certified, a European mark certifying products with low environmental impact;
- The LEED credits obtained by the Ecoliving and Marmo Ecologico collections confirm the social, environmental and economic sustainability of the buildings in which these products are used.
- Marca Corona is an ordinary member of the GBC Italia (Green Building Council), the association promoting sustainable building, championing the use of the LEED points system.
ENVIRONMENTAL RESPONSIBILITY: THE FIGURES THAT MATTER
Marca Corona’s constant commitment towards the protection of the environment is manifested and at its utmost in the figures for energy saving and in the recycling of production and packaging waste.
These percentages are strong and concrete proof of the corporate philosophy to produce ceramic material with as little impact as possible on the environment.
Each year, Marca Corona recycles and reuses the equivalent of 40,000,000 1-litre bottles of water.
Thanks to a specific decision by the company itself, the water which is used in Marca Corona’s production process is 40% recycled water. This is because the company recovers 100% of its waste water and uses water recycled from other ceramic tile companies. This saving can be translated into 40 million 1 litre bottles.
Saving energy, yes, and also a reduction in the emissions released into the atmosphere, equivalent to 1,500 cars being taken off roads for a year.
The advanced technology of Marca Corona’s new plants means that heat can also be recovered, reusing it in the production cycle as well as the heating of the workplaces, with a total saving of more than 1,000 tons of methane per annum and a reduction in the emission of green house gases (CO2) by 3,000 tons per annum, which equates to the exhaust fumes produced by 1,500 cars circulating for a year.
Every year, we recover almost 1,000 tons of raw waste.
The raw materials discarded during the production process as not complying with Marca Corona’s quality standards are totally recycled. As they have not undergone firing yet, they can be used for the preparation of ceramic mixes, thus leading to considerable savings in terms of raw materials used.
THE LEED RATING SYSTEM
The LEED standards (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) are parameters for ecosustainable building, developed in the USA by the US Green Building Council (USGBC) and adopted in 50 countries across the world. It is a voluntary certification system based on the allocation of credits for each single requisite characterising the sustainability of a building. LEED offers an all-round approach towards
eco-sustainability, taking into consideration the performances of a building in relation to six pre-requisites:
1. Sustainable Sites
2. Water Efficiency
3. Energy and Atmosphere
4. Materials and Resources
5. Indoor Environmental Quality
6. Innovation in Design
THE LEED RATING OF ECOLIVING AND MARMO ECOLOGICO
The Ecoliving and Marmo Ecologico collections by Marca Corona are manufactured using recycled material deriving from products of a different industry, therefore they contribute to the achievement of LEED ratings for the buildings in which in which these ceramic products are used, with reference to four requisites.
2 POINTS - MATERIALS AND RESOURCES
The floors built using recycled materials deriving from industries other than the ceramic industry itself obtain a higher LEED rating.
1 POINT - INDOOR ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY
The indoor areas of a building must be healthy and favour the living comfort of end users.
FROM 1 TO 5 POINTS - INNOVATION IN DESIGN
The use of modern technologies allows Marca Corona to meet and improve the BAT standards (Best Available Techniques), which define, on an international level, the environmental quality standards of the ceramic production process and create an added value for the allocation of LEED points.
1 POINT - SUSTAINABLE SITES
The objective is the reduction of the "heat island" effect (the thermal gradient difference between urban areas and their confining rural areas) to minimise the impact on the micro-climate.
