Stories of Sustainability

The Lambro River Shrimp:
commitment to clean chemistry

Bracco installs one of the first wastewater treatment systems as early as the 1970s
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Safeguarding the environment is one of Bracco’s “obsessions”. It could be said that this Milan-based company had been “green” long before the word was fashionable, much earlier than the concept of sustainability itself was popular, which today has become a common principle.

Bracco’s care for the environment stems directly from its interconnectedness with the area and the community where it operates. The story of the first wastewater treatment system in Lambrate is one such example.

We are in the early 1970s. The Lambro is a turbulent river and prone to frequent flooding. But Fulvio Bracco also remembers it because, in his words, “it was a beautiful river with clean waters, you could catch shrimp along its banks.” That may be hard to believe now, but back then it was true. Do you want proof? In that exact spot, there was a tavern called “The Shrimp”. (A brief story within a story: when the plant was being enlarged, Fulvio Bracco wanted to preserve that tavern, a small piece of Lambrate history, by restoring it while maintaining the original architecture).

Precisely because of this strong bond with that part of eastern Milan, the entrepreneur decided to create what he himself described as “one of our first major steps towards protecting the environment.” For that time, it was a groundbreaking wastewater treatment structure, built with the Ciba Geigy system.

Water treatment works at Bracco plant of Milano Lambrate, 1970s
The Dibrario. House organ, Year III, 1997, no 3
The Bracco Imaging headquarters in Ceriano Laghetto, 2001

Some years later, in the second half of the 1980s, it was Ceriano Laghetto’s turn, and the site was equipped with a very modern wastewater treatment system for those times. Over the years, advancements in technology have made further improvements possible, which have been implemented step by step.

From the past to the present, Bracco pays special attention to the management of water as a resource in all of its facilities: both the reduction of water consumption and through recovery and recycling, as well as the treatment of waste fluids and waste water. Just think that in recent years, the total amount of water discharge from the Colleretto Giacosa, Torviscosa, Ceriano Laghetto, Ginevra, Shanghai and Singen sites combined has decreased by hundreds of megaliters.

The opening of the Bracco plant in Ceriano Laghetto in 1988, as told by the leading participants.
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Documents and images from the Bracco Historical Archives
View of the water treatment works of the DIBRA factory (now Bracco Imaging) in Ceriano Laghetto, 1995
Detail of the water treatment works of the DIBRA factory (now Bracco Imaging) in Ceriano Laghetto, 1995
View of the water treatment works of the DIBRA factory (now Bracco Imaging) in Ceriano Laghetto, 1995
The Dibrario. House organ, Year III, 1997, no 3
The ancient tavern "Il gambero" freshly restored by Bracco at its Milano Lambrate headquarters, 1990s
Visitors at the Bracco Imaging plant of Ceriano Laghetto during an open day in the 1990s
The Bracco Imaging headquarters in Ceriano Laghetto, 2001
Water treatment works at Bracco plant of Milano Lambrate, 1970s
External view a Bracco Imaging building in Ceriano Laghetto, 2022
External view of Bracco Imaging plant of Ceriano Laghetto, 2022
Entrance of Bracco Imaging plant of Ceriano Laghetto, 2022
General plan of the Bracco plant in Milano Lambrate showing water treatment works, 29 May 1972
Plan and cross section of water treatment works of Bracco plant in Milano Lambrate, 29 May 1972
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