Moving towards carbon neutrality, thanks to sustainable technologies

A company that produces and distributes organic fruit and vegetables has sustainability ingrained in its DNA, long before the term became widely used (unlike companies that engage in greenwashing, presenting an environmentalism that is often only a facade or used for marketing). At Pizzi, we have always been very aware of new green technologies, and our efforts are focused on growing sustainably, allowing production to evolve while respecting and improving everyone’s lives.

This is also why our intention is to optimize our energy footprint. This occurs not only by producing organic products – production that better protects biodiversity and that does not release pesticides and chemicals into the environment – but also by increasingly reducing the consumption of water, saving energy, producing energy through agrophotovoltaicsystems, with installations that work together between agriculture that is protected from adverse weather conditions and mitigates temperatures, while saving water, and bioenergeticfacilities, with restoration of production waste through biodigester, to produce biomethane. Our aim is to reach the objectives set by the 2030 UN Agenda, the 2030 SEN ITALIA plan, and the indications of the European Commission.

Our producers utilize cutting-edge organic agriculture practices, incorporating automation in rural areas through the use of electrical robotic equipment powered by bio-energetic plants for collection and transportation. Additionally, they implement certified compostable packaging, precision agriculture techniques, and more.

Photovoltaic System

In August 2010 we installed our first 80 kW photovoltaic system. In May 2019 we then installed a second photovoltaic system, again of 80 kW. These plants each produce more than 300 kWh per year, the equivalent of about 180 tons of CO₂. The total supplied energy, therefore, saves about 337 kg of CO₂ every day.

Donation of unsold products

Annually, we donate around 78 tons of unsold organic fresh fruit and vegetables to associations that run soup kitchens, which is equivalent to 214 kg of donations each day.

Compostable materials

Starting in 2019, the company began using trays and nets made of fully compostable materials instead of the paper and plastic packaging previously used for organic fresh fruit and vegetables. This change was necessary in supermarkets where packaging is indeed required to prevent mixing and contamination.

By using only recyclable paper and compostable plastics, we have consequently reached33,000 kg per year of saved plastic packaging = 90 kg per day!

Agrochemicals

Organic farming has been estimated to have a 23 % lower environmental impact compared to conventional farming. Organic agriculture sequesters 450 tons more of CO₂ in the soil and utilizes a significantly reduced quantity of (non-synthetic) agrochemicals – 5.7 kg per hectare per year. This allows us, on 10,000 hectares, an equivalent CO₂ saving of 812,000 tons, equal to 2,200 kg/day.