Let's bring our bag for the environment

by Irene Gozzelino

This is the second edition of Porta La Sporta and, few weeks before starting; it has already proved to be a must for those public utilities, companies and people that want to promote with practical actions a more sustainable use of plastic packaging.

Silvia Ricci, coordinator and founder of the permanent campaign, told us that today almost 5 districts and 6 groups of the large-scale retail trade, as well as groups that took part in the last event, have just adhered to the campaign: “This year we started to promote the campaign a month earlier than last year - Silvia Ricci says – in order to give people and interested groups more time to organize themselves. The second edition of Porta La Sporta” takes place in a crowning moment for the problem of plastic packaging: recently the prohibition of commercializing plastic bags has come into force and the last European directive about waste management has been acknowledged. It recognizes for the first time the reduction and consequently the prevention of the waste as the most important actions to undertake.”

Porta La Sporta has been enriched with two parallel initiatives: Mettila In Rete (Put it in the net), which improves reusable packaging for the fruit-vegetable large-scale retail trade and Sfida all’ultima Sporta (Challenge till the last bag), a contest between towns for packaging reduction.
Sfida all’ultima sporta can be promoted by unions of towns, districts, regions, associations, and groups that are able to obtain from sponsors founds to invest in ordinary maintenance of local schools.

Mettila In Rete is an informative and educational campaign addressed to those citizens that are used to put fruits and vegetables in many different plastic bags. “Mettila In Rete underlines that the plastic bags are overused and, in many cases, useless. However, to accept this and break the habit , new actions are necessary, such as: bringing a bag from home, asking the dealers to weigh fruits and vegetables without bags, giving to costumers baskets or similar in which to put fruits and vegetables before weighing etc. If those actions take roots among people, in the next future the birth of a common front of public opinion that can change/influence the market as well as the political decisions will become possible.”

Talking about communication, Porta La Sporta resounded thanks also to the slogan: “sporta” (an old word that stands for shopping bag) is not a common term– Silvia Ricci explains– but its strange sound aroused people curiosity.”

We inform also that the companies e/o groups that want to attend to Porta La Sporta, can find on the dedicated site advices, instruments and procedures of promotion and diffusion, in order to make easy and successful their participation.

All participants will be mentioned on the site, divided into categories to be more traceable.
What more could you ask? It’s a great campaign, both for its aims and for the instruments that proposes.

To demonstrate once more that saving the nature also means saving money.