Pirelli in the front line for the environment at RIO+20

At the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (RIO+20) held in June 2012 in Brazil, Pirelli presented a selection of projects that will be implemented in Brazil with the collaboration of the Ministry for the Italian Environment and the San Paolo Government, to analyse and reduce climatic impact from the production of tyres at the factory in Campinas. Pirelli has agreed to calculate the carbon footprint for the entire lifecycle of a tyre produced in the Campinas factory. The study will also examine the most economically sustainable and efficient processes to reduce greenhouse gas emissions connected with the tyre lifecycle. The carbon footprinting calculation will also include the bio-salica derived from rice husks produced in the Pirelli factory in the city of Meleiro, in the Brazilian state of Santa Catarina. The Pirelli process uses waste material from rice processing to produce the essential prime material for the compounds, to replace conventionally produced salica that have greater environmental impact. Pirelli's commitment also extends to technical and economical analysis for the integration of solar thermal technology in certain phases of tyre production to replace fossil fuel sources. Pirelli is actively involved in the management of the collection and development chain of new solutions for the recovery of out-of-date tyres. In fact, in Brazil, Pirelli is also active in the Riciclanip Consortium that collected around 320 million tons of out-of-date tyres in 2011.