Perini Journal
In every industrial field, the theme of sustainability is among the most pressing priorities, and the tissue field is no exception. Its supply chain strongly effects the entire production and distribution cycle and hence must per force deal with such a foundational topic.
The years where we could simply limit ourselves to mere “green washing” – i.e., the recourse to generic declarations in favor of the environment – are over. Today, companies involved in tissue, too, are seriously committed to developing and implementing sustainability strategies. Indeed, the concept of corporate responsibility imposes companies an active role in the territories they work in. In a virtuous cycle of mutual exchanges, companies and territories are increasingly interconnected and jointly looking at environmental protection policies, social and cultural initiatives as well as interventions aimed at promoting the peculiarities and the excellences of the areas involved. The system that saw companies interested only in their own business, letting any positive fallback on the territories remain cached and unexploited, has collapsed. The new model, on the contrary, entails entering the theme of sustainability within the company’s mission and vision so that the strategies implemented are effective, farsighted and feasible also from the point of view of communication.
BUT THERE’S MORE. SUSTAINABILITY PAYS OFF AND REPAYS FOR ITSELF. Investments in sustainability are not “sink funds” but rather they sustain production cost reduction plans. To consume less energy, more efficient machines are needed; more advanced systems and processes reduce the use of polluting materials; refurbishing old transportation systems such as rail keeps trucks off the roads; R&D discovers how to obtain the best from raw materials without effecting costs.
Safety, too, is a form of sustainability: greater safety for operators is fruit of careful research, of technological choices and of the desire to make the workplace an environment where to move about carefully but serenely.
In conclusion, sustainability is also listening and participation because every innovation – whether it be design, production or logistics – stems from a free and continuous exchange of knowledge among all those taking part in a mutual project. *
Anna Sutor
Ana graduated from the faculty of Architecture at the University of Venice. Following a master course at London’s Architectural Association, she worked for Rem Koolhaas in Rotterdam, and then for Norman Foster in London. She has lived in Milan since 2001 and works there as an architect, illustrator and videomaker. Her drawings have been published on newspapers, magazines, books and records and have been used for advert campaigns in Europe, the United States and Brazil. Her works have been selected by the New York Society of Illustrators, the Associazione Italiana degli Illustratori and have received an award from the Creative Quarterly Review.