Resilco, a start-up based in Bergamo with its operational headquarters in Caponago (MB), announces the launch of its pilot plant in the municipality of Busnago (MB), the first in Italy dedicated to the treatment of certain types of alkaline industrial waste, fly ash from waste-to-energy plants, steel slag from steel production and flue gas dust, which, thanks to the technology developed by Resilco, are transformed into secondary raw materials for the construction sector, with permanent CO₂ storage.
The plant represents a key step in Resilco’s industrialisation process and in the semi-industrial-scale application of a process that has already been validated in the laboratory. The aim is to establish an economically sustainable waste-to-resource supply chain that reduces reliance on landfill and extracted raw materials, offering the market more economical and sustainable construction materials (fillers and binders), whilst making a significant contribution to decarbonisation. Furthermore, the trial launched in Busnago aims to obtain End-of-Waste classification and to begin marketing the plants, which can then be installed directly at client companies’ premises.
Specifically, Resilco’s technology accelerates the natural carbonation process (whereby a substance, in the presence of carbon dioxide, gives rise to the formation of carbonates), thereby immobilising the hazardous elements present in the waste. It is an innovative yet very simple technology: it operates at ambient temperature and pressure, uses CO₂ as its main reactant, and completes the entire process rapidly. In terms of performance, it enables waste recovery of over 90% and the production of secondary materials for the construction sector, with the potential, depending on the application, to replace up to 30% of the cement.
Resilco has set up the Busnago project as a pilot scheme, limited in duration and aimed solely at verifying the technical, environmental and operational feasibility of the process. Once the pilot phase has concluded and the process for obtaining End-of-Waste certification has been completed, the Busnago plant will be decommissioned, with development efforts focusing on the commercialisation of plants that can be installed at customers’ sites. In line with the provisions of the authorisation and in response to certain requests from the Busnago municipal administration, the quantity of material processed has been reduced to 20 tonnes per year, corresponding to less than 100 kg per day – a limit that is 50 times lower than the maximum permitted by regulations for pilot plants. The plant does not involve any water discharges attributable to the treatment activity. Furthermore, Resilco will carry out, at its own expense, voluntary air quality monitoring campaigns during the year, not only in the area surrounding the plant but also in the surrounding areas, sharing the results with the Municipality of Busnago.
Resilco was founded in Bergamo in 2019 by David Callejo Munoz (pictured), who was joined in 2023 by Paolo Brazzo, Alessandro Panza and Marta Cecilia Pigazzini. It has developed a technology capable of treating and recovering various types of alkaline industrial waste. such as fly ash from waste-to-energy plants, steel slag from steel production and flue gas dust from various industrial sectors (for example, from the production of ceramics and glass), which are transformed into secondary raw materials that can be used in sectors such as construction, the production of mortars, concrete, plasters, resins and bitumen, whilst simultaneously storing CO₂ and avoiding landfill disposal.
In March 2025, Resilco raised €5 million in a funding round led by 360 Capital, a European venture capital firm, through its climate tech fund 360 LIFE II, which is also backed by CDP Venture Capital, via the Green Transition Fund, which utilises PNRR resources allocated by the EU through the NextGeneration EU initiative, and with the involvement of the LV 360 Parallel Fund, in which Lombardia Venture holds a stake. Lombardia Venture is an initiative of the Lombardy Region funded by European ERDF 2021–27 funds and managed by Finlombarda, which supports the growth and development of Lombardy-based start-ups with strong potential for technological innovation. The round also saw the participation of Tech4Planet, the National Technology Transfer Hub promoted by CDP Venture Capital for environmental sustainability. In total, Resilco raised €6.5 million.
“The launch of the pilot plant in Busnago marks a decisive moment for Resilco, as it means taking our technology from the laboratory to an operational demonstration under real-world conditions,” said David Callejo Muñoz, who is also the startup’s CEO, in a statement. “Here we are validating a model that combines industrial waste recovery with permanent CO₂ storage, transforming an environmental and economic cost into a resource for the construction sector. “Our aim is to complete the pilot phase as quickly as reasonably possible and, once we have obtained End-of-Waste status for the materials, to focus on commercialising replicable plants that can be installed at customers’ sites.”
“In industrial deep tech, the most challenging stage isn’t research; it’s industrialisation,” explains Alessandro Zaccaria, a partner at 360 Capital. “Resilco has demonstrated its ability to make this leap, with a technology capable of transforming a real environmental problem – the disposal of alkaline industrial waste – into a cost-effective solution for the construction sector. This is exactly the kind of innovation our 360 LIFE II fund is looking for.”
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