Conou is a consortium responsible for the disposal and recycling of used mineral oils, to protect the environment from pollution and give new life to waste in full compliance with the circular economy.
44,000 tonnes of greenhouse gases avoided, 520,000 cubic metres of water conserved, 262,000 tonnes of natural, fossil and mineral resources saved. These are the results that the Consorzio nazionale per la gestione, raccolta e trattamento degli oli minerali usati (Conou) guaranteed for our country in 2017.
"Conou is a mandatory consortium established 35 years ago. We have sent something like six million tonnes of lubricants to regeneration: it is as if we had preserved a surface area twice the size of the Mediterranean Sea from pollution," says Paolo Tomasi, the president. We met him at Ecomondo, the circular economy trade fair in Rimini.
Conou relies on a collection network made up of 74 private companies, spread across the entire national territory, and coordinates the activities of four regeneration plants. Ecomondo was the occasion to present the 2017 Green economy report, which revealed that last year 99 per cent of the oils collected were recycled, compared with a European average of 55 per cent.
"We are convinced that the linear economy is not sustainable in the long term. We have long believed it is possible to give new life to waste and by-products, and I can see, especially at the Rimini trade fair, that there are many other people and many other companies who think the same way," reveals Antonio Lazzarinetti, chief executive of Viscolube, the leading company in Europe in the regeneration of used oils.
As well as having a positive impact on the environment, the recycling of lubricants brings considerable economic benefits by making new raw materials available: suffice it to say that in 2017 56 million euros were saved on oil imports.
At Ecomondo, Conou also presented the touring campaign CircOILeconomy, a roadshow with stops in every region to train companies on the correct methods for storing used oil: if it is mixed with other substances, sending it for regeneration becomes far more expensive or even impossible.
This is an aspect that private individuals must also bear in mind: "Many people change the oil in their own car themselves — that is not a criminal offence. What matters is that the used oil is not poured onto fields, into rivers or the sea, or down drains: you need to go to your municipality's recycling points, which have dedicated containers where the product can be deposited; we collect it and deliver it to the refineries that handle its regeneration," explains Franco Venanzi, president of Anco (Associazione nazionale concessionari consorzi).
Each one of us can therefore contribute to a process that fits perfectly into the circular economy — the only viable path in a world that not only must, but truly wants to become sustainable.