In Perugia the environmental communication put the citizen on centre

by Silvia Musso

“One month for environment” is the title of a calendar of events organised by the town councillorship of environment of Municipality of Perugia together with ATI2 with the aim to show and promote the new municipal waste management services regarding the widening of domiciliary waste collecting. Among the different and original activities is foreseen the ecological carnival, with parades with costumes realised with recycled materials and specific events into the ecological waste collecting points. In programme there is also a conference, January 19th, entitled “Da cosa nasce…cosa. Il cittadino al centro dei nuovi servizi di igiene ambientale” with the participation of Edo Ronchi, ex Minister of Environment and current president of Fondazione Sviluppo Sostenibile (Sustainable Development Foundation). There will be also sectoral seminars for technicians and public officers, info point to encourage the waste collecting and public meetings organised for wide area to explain the citizen show the new service of waste domiciliary collecting will operate.

First goal of this new municipal service is let the waste become a re source, promoting a real cultural transformation in citizens’ daily habits.
A result, impossible to realise, without an effective environmental communication campaign, integral part of the new municipal waste management, addressed to different targets (citizen, schools, public administrations, industries and firms) and aimed to activate different communication channels throughout a well structured media planning. «The favourite way, which we think could give better results, will be the face-to-face contact with consumer, both with one-to-one moments (communication experts will deliver information tools in every family) and throughout public meetings - Franca Caramello, responsible for the communication field of Gesenu, firm that had with T.S.A., S.I.A. and Ecocave the commitment of managing the new municipal waste service in Perugia for next fifteen years, says - Moreover innovative systems are improving such as the use of SMS, the “Città in Tv” (“City in TV”), a new website and the “Filo Diretto” (Direct line”)».

Lorena Pesaresi, town counsellor of Energetic and Environmental policies, underlines the crucial role of communication in this transforming process: «Municipal administration has put at the centre of its politic programme the communication and a continuing relationship with citenzship; nearness to citizen is fundamental because everything you want to do for a sustainable city is not possible without an informed consent. Therefore to put the citizen-consumer at the centre of the new waste management services is the commitment of the municipal administration».
Again Caramello stresses the necessity of investing in environmental communication: «It means abandon the old phase of marginalisation of the communication process (linked to spectacularity, auto promotion of administrators or firms) to promote it as “structural art” of the service. An effective communication wants to create shareness, convergence, tries the complexity of the dialogue between Public Administration and citizens, produces value, sense, meaning, gives roots to a sane “service culture” in firms and corporate and a “respect of services” among citizen. To invest in communication means, in other words, to found a lasting and not sporadic dialogue with consumers».