# Sustainability in Italian Ceramic Tile Production: Evaluation of the Environmental Impact
## 4 Conclusions  
The environmental impact of the Italian ceramic tiles production has been reported and discussed in this study. Data relating to the main pollutants of gaseous emissions, the water and solid waste management have been reported, considering a sample of 90 ceramic plants in Emilia-Romagna region over a period of more than 9 years. For specific pollutants (particulate matter, fluorine and lead elements), the reported data include a larger period.  
The main results can be summarized as follows:  
* over the last two decades, the concentration of particulate matter, fluorine and lead emitted by ceramic tile plants continuously decreased. The innovation in the production process technology have largely contributed to reach such excellent result. The concentration levels for each of the three pollutants are lower compared to the limit values reported in the Best Available Techniques (BAT) document.
* The collected data for the emission factor of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and aldehydes cannot be compared to any limit because of the absence of such references in the Italian and European legislations. The future versions of the EU Ecolabel and ceramic BRef will probably take into account specific emission limits for these pollutants. The current situation shows that innovation in decoration is taking care to lower these types of emissions by increase the use of aqueous media.
* The trend for the emission factor of nitrogen oxides showed a modest but constant increase over the years. This is probably related to the higher thicknesses of new ceramic tiles recently presented in the market. The EU Ecolabel limit set for the emissions from firing operations has always been complied during the considered period.
* The recycling of water and solid waste are widely and successfully adopted within the Italian ceramic tiles productive sites. The virtuous values recorded for these environmental indicators demonstrate the high attention to recycling and sustainability policies performed by the ceramic industry.  
The data collection and relevant elaborations reveal the strong attention to the environment of the Italian ceramic tile industry. The results obtained in this study are relevant for two main reasons:  
Figure 10: Trend for the recycling ratio of solid waste (R\({}_{\rm SW}\)). Data for all the three production classes are reported.  
firstly, they attest, along the years, the efforts addressed to the improvement of the sustainability of the Italian ceramic production, and secondly, they demonstrate the success of the continuous collaboration between all the involved parties: the Emilia-Romagna region, the environmental agencies (ARPA Emilia Romagna), the research institutions (University of Bologna and Centro Ceramico) and the industries and their association (Confindustria Ceramica).  
Conceptualization, G.B. ([PERSON]) and M.C.B.; Data curation, G.B. ([PERSON]); Formal analysis, G.M.; Methodology, G.B. ([PERSON]); Supervision, M.C.B.; Writing--original draft, G.B. ([PERSON]); Writing--review & editing, G.M., G.B. ([PERSON]) and M.C.B. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.  
This research was partially funded by Confindustria Ceramica (Italian Ceramic Industry Association).  
The authors wish to thank Eng. [PERSON] for his support in sharing his deep knowledge on the specific topic of this paper.  
The authors declare no conflict of interest.