Garbo S.r.l. turns 25 years old, but continues to look to the future. From 1997 to today, always been on the cutting edge.
It’s time for Garbo S.r.l. to blow out some essential candles. It’s all true: in July this year, in 2022, Garbo S.r.l. turned 25 years old. Not just any birthday, as the saying goes, but a quarter of a century lived under the banner of experimentation, avant-garde, and above all the challenge for a circular economy.
Garbo S.r.l., a 25-years old history
The founding of Garbo dates back to 1997, when it still presented itself under the name “Garbo Servizi S.r.l.,” but right from the start with a very clear and transparent mission: to become the leading (and pioneering) company in the recovery of silicon carbide and polyethylene glycol, which are used in the abrasive mixtures for cutting silicon wafers used in the production of semiconductors or photovoltaic panels. So, in 1999, the first breakthrough: was the installation of the first pilot plant for abrasive mixture recovery at a major silicon wafer producer in Novara, more precisely in Cerano (NO), Italy, where today Garbo still has its operational headquarters.
From there on, it was a continuous run: in November 2000, the realization of the projects on an industrial scale; the joint-venture agreement with a German chemical processing machine design company – hence the founding of SiC Processing GmbH; the good feedback obtained in various locations around the world (Germany, China, Norway and in the United States). Until the rebirth of the company in 2006, which becomes as we know it today: Garbo S.r.l., which continues its mission in the development of other highly innovative technologies for the regeneration of materials, until it comes to the recovery of PET plastics. Finally, in 2020, the acquisition of PPT Abrasives introduced diamond powder among its materials.
Not forgetting the focus on sustainability and green. To date, Garbo boasts more than 10 proprietary patents filed and has based its business on the circular economy. Sixty-five people are employed at the historic site in Cerano (Novara) with a forecast for employment growth in the years to come. Not only that, but Garbo is also active in regional R&D chains as the lead partner in the Reciplast project, co-financed by the Piedmont region and the European Union, in which nothing less than ChemPET technology, developed by Garbo to increase the sustainability of the entire supply chain, is being applied.
For Garbo, sustainability is not just an idea, but a natural philosophy.
If it is true that every birthday is an opportunity to look back and “take stock” of what has been, Garbo S.r.l. is already a step further: it does not forget its past, but our gaze is always turned toward the future. Keeping one eye always open on its history and what it has learned in 25 years, but the other fixed on what is yet to come, Garbo S.r.l. continues its search for original solutions in identifying new technological processes that allow it to supply the market with unique or distinctive products.
Always new goals, and new challenges, not to betray the pioneering spirit that has distinguished us from day one. After all, as we say, “from 1997 to today, always on the cutting edge.“
Happy birthday, Garbo S.r.l., here’s to the next 25 years!
