Collagen recovery, digital design, circularity in circularity, and new business models: these are the themes that animated today’s event at the Russo tannery in Casandrino. The event MICS – Made in Italy Circolare e Sostenibile (Circular and Sustainable Made in Italy) is an extended partnership financed by MUR with PNRR funds, the largest investment ever dedicated in Italy to research on the circular economy was presented: over €125 million and 14 private partners involved in a project that brings together universities and industry, North and South, innovation and sustainability. A concrete opportunity capable of redesigning production processes and industrial geographies, with leather as the symbolic material of this transition. At the heart of the project is the recovery of collagen from tanning waste: that’s what RESCUE is all about.
A new industrial geography
At the heart of the discussion was leather, as a circular system, and the extraction of collagen from solid industrial waste, which becomes a resource for the future. No longer just a symbol of traditional craftsmanship, therefore, but a living subject for technological experimentation and reflection. The project presented today at the Russo tannery in Casandrino starts from the idea of wet-blue and wet-white leather residues, which are a particularly rich sources of collagen, extracted through the application of specific enzymes and then reused in the manufacturing process: from the retanning process to the aesthetic finishing of the leather. The extraction and reuse of the filler, among other things, represents a solution to the classic acrylic and polyurethane resins. In addition to the advantage of using equipment already present in tanneries without having to invest in new infrastructure.
A constant synergy
Marco Monaco of Russo di Casandrino emphasized the need to combine know-how, innovation, and sustainability within tanning processes. “The RESCUE project was aimed at validating, at an industrial level, the enzymatic processes for recovering solid waste from the tanning industry and reusing it. The need to adopt biotechnological processes in the tanning industry also proves to be an economic advantage, thanks to the recovery of solid waste, which would otherwise be disposed of, and its transformation into a new reagent. This project closed with the commissioning of an industrial prototype for the extraction of high-quality collagen at the Russo di Casandrino company”, said Giovanni Sannia, President of Biopox, one of the four partners in the RESCUE research initiative, together with Russo di Casandrino, the University of Sannio, and Compolab. Sustainability, therefore, as the key to Made in Italy: to continue to grow.
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- Leather as a circularity lever: ICT and UNIC protagonists at FAO
