by Silvia Musso
A whole town rallies to make its Christmas presents more eco-compatible: it happens in Sant Cugat del Vallès, about 30 km west of Barcelona (Catalunya), where the Municipality has launched the project “Nadal Sostenible” (“Sustainable Christmas”), involving actively shopkeepers and residents with a communicative campaign.
«The campaign is addressed at two specific targets: the main one is represented by the 76k inhabitants of Sant Cugat, to whom is asked to act directly with actions aimed at making their Christmas more ecological; a secondary one is represented by the category of shopkeepers, with a pre-campaign to sensitize them –says Rosa Puig, Catalunya project manager for Erica, the Italian Company which is giving communicative consultation to realize the project- Strength of this project is its wide spreading over the territory. The first step has been the involvement of the stakeholders, starting from the Federaciò Comerç and the “Artesans de Sant Cugat” association, summoned by the Municipality to set a common line of action».
All shops and artisans in town were asked to find products matching some criteria of sustainability, within a list of twelve, and to label them with a specific “-CO2” tag, already used by the Municipality to boost emission cutting. It has also been decided to wrap up all presents with recycled newspapers, coming from separate waste collections, and to substitute all plastic shoppers with reusable bags. To all adhering shops it has been given a decalcomania of the visual of the campaign.
To reach the consumers’ audience, “Natal Sostenible” stakes on billboards, informative desks during the week before Christmas (in which some promoters are available to wrap up all presents with newspapers) and a mailing sent to all resident families, with a leaflet containing suggestions and useful advice. Among these, an invitation to make “immaterial” presents (making zero waste and low CO2 emissions): a carnet of tickets for gym, the subscription to a magazine, a ticket for a concert or a play or a session of massages, just to give some examples.
The Municipality of Sant Cugat, furthermore, has chosen to contribute to the eco-balance of its festivities by using leds for its illuminations, instead of traditional ones, obtaining a huge energy saving (approx 80% less), equal to 5 tons of CO2 not produced.
The whole campaign is also available on the web.
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