by Silvia Musso
At the third and final edition of the European Week for Waste Reduction, the cooperative ERICA, technical partner of the Italian Committee has decided to engage seriously changing its "connotations". From company attentive to the principles of waste reduction – it is in fact a leader in Italy into the field of environmental communication about recycling and waste prevention - will fully convert to the philosophy "zero waste".
During the European Week, the Board of Directors will adopt a specific resolution that will engagr the company in all its components to arrive not to produce non-recyclable waste by 2020. The Board has identified some criteria and actions such as the progressive removal of "disposable" goods, the purchase of goods from recycled materials, the purchase of goods with minimal packaging, on-site composting of organic waste of the kitchen, the two-sided printing of documents and re-use of paper printed on one side for specific needs, the careful determination of the amount of material for communication campaigns to contain the remains.
The decision will be communicated to all the working members, employees and collaborators also indicating the concrete activities to be undertaken. A month after the resolution, an analysis will count the type of waste still produced by ERICA and will evaluate corrective or new actions.
Those responsible for internal technical office, which has prepared a special investigation to determine how to reduce waste production, answered our questions.
The strengths of this action are numerous. Two particularly make it innovative among all the EWWR 2011 actions: the two-way communication, directed either inside - towards members and employees - or outside - to suppliers and customers - and replicability in other companies. Can you explain these two aspects?
«E.R.I.C.A. is a cooperative company, where the corporate form is itself a philosophical management model which principles are shared and promoted by the Board of Directors. E.R.I.C.A. works primarily for public administrations with citizens, and environmental issues permeate all activities promoted and developed by E.R.I.CA. For these reasons the choice of a policy aimed for "zero waste" can not be realized without the involvement of tose actiors with which, directly or indirectly, ERICA work and collaborate. Awareness to the issues of sustainable development is a key policy of E.R.I.C.A. and the will to create a methodical process, monitored and replicable by other companies represents the correct completion of the company mission».
The initiative is certainly worthy, but the difficulty will be to keep the commitments over the eight days of EWWR. What distinguishes this initiative from a mere marketing strategy?
«E.R.I.C.A. has decided to formalize a virtuous cycle to reduce its waste already taken a long time ago that also contributed to obtaining ISO 14001 certification. The EWWR is just the occasion to introduce such commitment that involves the integration of its system of quality management and environmental protection with procedures that tend to a progressive reduction of waste. This will be done in the first place with a careful analysis of the daily flows of materials, from the purchase to final disposal stage, going to identify the critical points and setting of specific targets in the medium and long term. The monitoring will be crucial, and this is why E.R.I.C.A. will identify significant indicators that will be kept under control.We invite anyone who believes that this initiative is only a publicity strategy to follow E.R.I.C.A. through the many channels by which it daily communicates, and get in touch with us: we will be glad to present results and offer advice to anyone wishing to take the same path».
Envi definitely takes the call and will follow with interest this experience, unique of its kind in the world of Italian businnesses, in the hope that other companies are encouraged to take the same path.
During the European Week, the Board of Directors will adopt a specific resolution that will engagr the company in all its components to arrive not to produce non-recyclable waste by 2020. The Board has identified some criteria and actions such as the progressive removal of "disposable" goods, the purchase of goods from recycled materials, the purchase of goods with minimal packaging, on-site composting of organic waste of the kitchen, the two-sided printing of documents and re-use of paper printed on one side for specific needs, the careful determination of the amount of material for communication campaigns to contain the remains.
The decision will be communicated to all the working members, employees and collaborators also indicating the concrete activities to be undertaken. A month after the resolution, an analysis will count the type of waste still produced by ERICA and will evaluate corrective or new actions.
Those responsible for internal technical office, which has prepared a special investigation to determine how to reduce waste production, answered our questions.
The strengths of this action are numerous. Two particularly make it innovative among all the EWWR 2011 actions: the two-way communication, directed either inside - towards members and employees - or outside - to suppliers and customers - and replicability in other companies. Can you explain these two aspects?
«E.R.I.C.A. is a cooperative company, where the corporate form is itself a philosophical management model which principles are shared and promoted by the Board of Directors. E.R.I.C.A. works primarily for public administrations with citizens, and environmental issues permeate all activities promoted and developed by E.R.I.CA. For these reasons the choice of a policy aimed for "zero waste" can not be realized without the involvement of tose actiors with which, directly or indirectly, ERICA work and collaborate. Awareness to the issues of sustainable development is a key policy of E.R.I.C.A. and the will to create a methodical process, monitored and replicable by other companies represents the correct completion of the company mission».
The initiative is certainly worthy, but the difficulty will be to keep the commitments over the eight days of EWWR. What distinguishes this initiative from a mere marketing strategy?
«E.R.I.C.A. has decided to formalize a virtuous cycle to reduce its waste already taken a long time ago that also contributed to obtaining ISO 14001 certification. The EWWR is just the occasion to introduce such commitment that involves the integration of its system of quality management and environmental protection with procedures that tend to a progressive reduction of waste. This will be done in the first place with a careful analysis of the daily flows of materials, from the purchase to final disposal stage, going to identify the critical points and setting of specific targets in the medium and long term. The monitoring will be crucial, and this is why E.R.I.C.A. will identify significant indicators that will be kept under control.We invite anyone who believes that this initiative is only a publicity strategy to follow E.R.I.C.A. through the many channels by which it daily communicates, and get in touch with us: we will be glad to present results and offer advice to anyone wishing to take the same path».
Envi definitely takes the call and will follow with interest this experience, unique of its kind in the world of Italian businnesses, in the hope that other companies are encouraged to take the same path.
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