Thanks to post-consumer recycled plastic and a process of reduced CO2 emissions, Olimpia Splendid’s new heat pump air conditioners with no external unit take care of the climate in your home while respecting that of the planet
Cellatica, October 2024
The new generation of Unico®, the heat pump air conditioners with no external unit launched by Olimpia Splendid at the beginning of the year, has been expanded to include two new entries. Designed to rewrite future standards with Near-to-Zero GWP refrigerants and a new technology that increases efficiency and acoustic comfort, the Unico® models, just launched on the European market, include new materials as well.
Unico Evo-F and Unico Next-F
Like all latest-generation heat pump air conditioners with no external unit, the latest Unico Evo-F and Unico Next-F models cool, heat and dehumidify the air by means of an R290 cooling circuit with a low refrigerant level (less than the 152 g required by the standard) allowing free installation. They are also designed with a combination of perfectly synchronised components which increase the energy performance and enhance the ultra-quiet operation of the entire unit.
The new features new features stand out right away when compared to other Olimpia Splendid models: the total white monobloc body has a black band on the front on a level with the air distribution flap. The band is made of 100% post-consumer recycled plastic: a material with the exact same technical performance as the original, but recovered from end-of-life products.
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Post-consumer recycled plastic
The new material, introduced on the heat pump air conditioners with no external unit in the Unico® range, is a first application example of the research and development work by Olimpia Splendid, an Italian company specialised in air conditioning, heating and air treatment in the home, together with the SAFE Hub (Ecoped, Ridomus, Ecopower and Pneulife) and Stena Recycling, a company specialised in WEEE recovery within the Oltre il Green project.
For some time now, Olimpia Splendid had been looking for thermoplastic polymers from the recycling chain to include into its production lines, although it seemed impossible to find a secondary raw material with characteristics similar to those of virgin plastic, both technically and aesthetically. The project has finally yielded results thanks to the partnership with SAFE and the encounter with Stena Recycling. The secondary ABS used for the new Unico Evo-F and Unico Next-F models, is, in fact, the result of advanced separation technologies that extract the plastic components from WEEE and identify the individual polymers, with the goal of eliminating banned plastics containing toxic or hazardous substances. A highly innovative process where the quality of the post-consumer polymers produced and the uniformity of the batches is monitored by the Polytechnic of Milan, and the origins of the recycled raw material is internationally certified by the Dutch KIWA.
“Plastic is an important raw material for Olimpia Splendid: our products have an excellent aesthetic finish and plastic is renowned as the ideal material in the world of design”, explains Francesco Saccone, R&D manager and ESG Board Member of Olimpia Splendid. “In this scenario, it is, therefore, crucial for us to adopt and enhance all the virtuous behaviours that lead to a reduction in the environmental impact while boosting a circular economy. We take pride in being one of the first companies in our industry to introduce post-consumer recycled plastic, both in the internal components of our products and partly on aesthetics
“This project is a concrete example of how companies can and must embrace Oltre il Green”, explains Marco Ferracin, Sales manager for SAFE. “Oltre il Green is a movement that we promote and launched a year ago to raise awareness in industries and among consumers about the importance of not resting on our laurels. It isn’t enough to deliver end-of-life products to authorised centres. We need to go ‘beyond’ the gate of these centres and only use traceable, transparent, lawful and controlled recycling chains, and commit to recirculating the secondary raw materials derived from them. In the first six months of 2024, we received numerous requests from companies that want to integrate recycled post-consumer plastic in their products and the interest in our sustainable solutions is constantly on the rise”.
“We often talk about circular economy: this is an example of its concrete application, says Giuseppe Piardi, CEO of Stena Recycling, the Italian division of the multinational Swedish company of the same name. “Through intensive research work, we have succeeded in obtaining plastic polymers, in this case ABS, produced from Recyclass-certified post-consumer materials by recycling of end-of-life air conditioners or electrical and electronic equipment. An even more impressive result if you bear in mind that this have been achieved just two years after inaugurating our first plastic recycling plant in Angiari, in the province of Verona. With the confidence placed in us by Olimpia Splendid and the SAFE Group, we have sent an important and, above all, concrete signal of circular economy, positioning ourselves as a key player in the recycled polymers market and demonstrating that both technology and sustainability can be combined”.
One of the new Unico® models with post-consumer recycled plastics will be showcased at the 29th edition of Fakuma, the international trade fair for plastics processing, from 15 to 19 October at the Stena Recycling stand, to demonstrate that it finally possible to create a new air conditioner from the materials of an end-of-life air conditioner
Production with reduced CO2 emissions
But it is not only the raw material and latest product innovations that improve the environmental footprint of the new generation of Unico® products. Olimpia Splendid’s heat pump air conditioners with no external unit are also more sustainable at the process level through an Italian production already fully powered by electricity from renewable sources (50% of which is self-generated) and that has, by 2023, succeeded in reducing its CO2 emissions as well.
For some years now, Olimpia Splendid has set itself the ambitious goal of reaching complete carbon neutrality by 2040, ten year ahead of the European Green Deal. Moreover, the results published in the latest sustainability report show that we have already achieved the first step on this path. Olimpia Splendid’s carbon neutrality road map, in fact, included a 15% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions in 2023 (Scope 1 and Scope 2, starting in 2019), but the data collected even showed that the target was exceeded, with -17% emissions.
These positive results on the environmental front are the culmination of important innovation work, both at product and process level, which will continue in the coming years. By 2026, Olimpia Splendid aims to reduce its CO2 emissions by 30% and is already working to extend the of recycled plastic to other product components.
