Technological watch

Safe and sustainable personal protective equipment

At the A+A 2021 international trade fair (Dusseldorf, October 26-29), RadiciGroup showcases its latest high-resistance, lightweight sustainable solutions: a new line of products created as a result of the pandemic experience. This international show gives RadiciGroup the opportunity to present its latest developments in personal protective equipment (PPE) for industrial use, including coveralls, gowns, caps, full hoods, shoe covers and boots. These products are part of a new line, Radipeople, a trade name identifying the new protective workwear sold by RadiciGroup: end products of a traceable supply chain, in which special attention is paid to the choice of raw materials and the quality of the final products offered the market.

At RadiciGroup, care for the health and safety of people is one of the pillars of the Group's sustainability strategy, combined with a strong commitment to safeguarding the environment. Radipeople Eco, the first protective coverall with 100% end-of-life recyclability is proof of such commitment. All parts of Radipeople Eco: the fabric, lamination, zipper and thread are made of the same material, 100% polypropylene. Furthermore, the Group’s offering includes garments made with Respunsible, a spundbond obtained from recycled polypropylene or materials certified under the ISCC Plus scheme.

“RadiciGroup’s commitment in the area of personal protective equipment began in March 2020 at the height of the pandemic crisis in Bergamo, Italy, where we are based. We set out to use our dylar spunbond as the main component for the manufacture of protective gowns for medical personnel. Starting from scratch, in record time we managed to set up a chain of local manufacturers to produce the gowns. Today, with our extensive experience in the field of nonwovens supported by our well-established knowledge of material chemistry, we are ready to reorient and convert our know-how to the production of protective garments suitable for use in many industrial environments. Furthermore, at the end of 2020, our Group invested 15 million euros in the purchase of a new line for the production of meltblown, a type of nonwoven not available on the Italian market. This material is an intermediate product in the production of protective face masks and other types of PPE, and also an excellent material for liquid and air filtration applications.” Maurizio Radici, vice president of RadiciGroup, said.

Thanks to their versatility and technical characteristics, the nonwoven solutions proposed by RadiciGroup are suitable for many industrial sectors, including oil and gas, utilities, construction, food, automotive painting and shipbuilding, maintenance, agriculture, laboratories, microprocessor manufacturing and the pharmaceutical and chemical industries. Radipeople personal protective equipment delivers excellent protection against external agents (liquids, splashes, jets, particles and sprays), high protection against biological hazards and infectious agents, and high robustness and lightness to optimize protection, on the one hand, and comfort, on the other. All Radipeople protective equipment is made of fully traceable materials, manufactured by a totally Italian production chain involving hundreds of workers, and sold in packaging designed with an ecodesign approach, that is, fully recyclable minimized packaging.



Publication date: 27/10/2021

Macplas



      

This project has received funding from the Bio Based Industries Joint Undertaking under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 837761.