In 2007, Sartori Ambiente made a choice that would deeply shape its journey: adopting the Plastica Seconda Vita certification.
It was not a decision driven by fashion, nor by a regulatory obligation.
It was a cultural and industrial choice, made at a time when the circular economy had not yet gained the central role it would take on in the years that followed.
In those years, talking about recycled plastic meant dealing with doubts, resistance and technological limitations. Recycled material was often perceived as less performing than virgin raw material; quality was not always considered consistent, and raw material traceability was still an open challenge.
For Sartori Ambiente, however, using recycled plastic could not be just a statement of intent. It had to become a concrete, measurable and verifiable commitment.
The Plastica Seconda Vita certification responded exactly to this need: to certify the origin of material from separate waste collection, guarantee the traceability of the production process and certify the actual percentage of recycled plastic used in products.
From that moment on, the choice to use certified recycled plastic became a stable part of the company’s design DNA. Not as a constraint, but as a driver of innovation.
Designing products made from recycled plastic means going beyond the simple replacement of one material with another. It means rethinking geometries, thicknesses, moulds and production processes to create solutions capable of ensuring strength, functionality, safety and durability over time.
It is an approach that requires control, technical expertise and a clear vision: proving that sustainability and quality are not opposing concepts, but can reinforce one another.
Over the years, this choice has accompanied the evolution of many Sartori Ambiente solutions, from containers for separate waste collection to home composters, helping to transform material from collection into new, useful and durable products, reintegrated into a virtuous cycle.
Carrying this choice through to the present day also means not stepping back when the market changes, when costs fluctuate or when the easiest path would be to return to virgin raw material. It means believing that the quality of a product does not depend on the “new” origin of the material, but on the way that material is selected, designed, transformed and controlled.
Today, certified recycled plastic is increasingly recognised as a benchmark standard, including in public procurement and in the environmental criteria applied to products. In 2007, however, this was not the case.
And this is precisely why that choice represents a key chapter in our history: because it anticipated a direction that has now become essential for anyone designing solutions truly consistent with the principles of the circular economy.
For Sartori Ambiente, certified recycled plastic has never been just a material.
It has been, and still is today, a concrete way to give value to separate waste collection, transforming what has been collected into new solutions for the environment.
Happy anniversary!