Over 3,600 tons of used salt recovered and reused per year; increasingly purified wastewater and odor control

The San Daniele ham consortium is committed to guiding members towards sustainable management of production processes, while creating value for the community and the environment. Specifically, the consortium acts as a facilitator and support entity for the management by the consortium member companies of three services: waste management and in particular the recovery of brine and disposal of solid salt; waste water disposal; management of electricity and gas services.

Each year the consortium deals with over 3,600 tons of exhausted salt deriving from the solid processing process, because since 2009, through a specialized company, it has collected it from ham factories and destined it to facilities for other uses. The used salt, in fact, can have other industrial uses. It can be used as a road de-icer, for example, or in the tanning industry. The consortium withdrawal of this processing waste and its reuse generate multiple positive impacts, because they reduce and enhance the waste, make the service more efficient, already give substance to the concept of circular economy.

The San Daniele ham consortium also manages the consortium purifier that collects the water from the production sites that join the service. The plant treats approximately 300,000 cubic meters of wastewater annually. Since 2015, the year it came into operation, there has been a notable improvement in the characteristics of the water fed into the public sewer. Thanks to the technological potential of the plant, the consortium checks the qualitative characteristics of the water, improving its quality, and constantly monitors the impacts on the environment and on the community. Investments continue to improve the service: in 2019 some technical innovations reduced the evaporation of water and odors released into the environment.