by Silvia Musso
Do you remember one year ago - it was February 2011 – the bad act of the municipality of Spresiano (North-East Italy) that on the flyer of a public meeting about waste recycling had inserted an image in which a person threw into a bin a Calabria shaped waste? At that time we had wondered if it was an act of "Padan" racism or a simple gaffe or even a fake. Well, these same questions have accompanied the beginning of a recent awareness campaign on recycling sponsored by the city of Varese (North Italy).Some weeks ago, in fact, on the city's streets posters have appeared, bearing only the claim: "Varese, is not Salerno" (Salerno is a South Italy city)
The appearance of the posters immediately provoked an echo of voices, criticism and accusations as evidenced in the pages of the local newspaper Varesenews: «"Varese is not Salerno" and it is a storm. The poster around the city has not gone unnoticed. On our Facebook pages are getting hundreds of comments. The cliam is read in many different ways. And the news arrived also in Salerno. Do not miss Salerno's citizens who write on Varesenews».
The initial storm was calmed down, however, by the explanations of the administration. This was a teaser action – there were actually two kind of poster "Varese is not Salerno" and "Varese is not Pordenone" -before the proper campaign commissioned by the Mayor whose goal is the public awareness on the benefits of sorting waste.
On January 19th, in fact, the Mayor Attilio Fontana contacted his colleagues of Salerno and Pordenone with a letter in which he explained that the municipality of Varese intended to carry out a publicity campaign to sensitize the citizens to separate waste by referring into the posters to the two cities, virtuous examples for separate collection. Pordenone with 78.1% is the most virtuous city of the North in terms of recycling, while Salerno with 70.3%, has the best performance in the South. Varese, with 48.9% have already a good result, but municipal administration wants to improve these.
The administration's idea was certainly intriguing, looking at the amount of reactions triggered mainly on social networks. To evaluate the success, however, we must wait for the next phases of the communication campaign and above all ensure that the first interest of the citizens will turn into a real change in their habits in order to achieve the goal: to arrive by the end of 2012 to 65% of separate waste collection.
We'll see.
The appearance of the posters immediately provoked an echo of voices, criticism and accusations as evidenced in the pages of the local newspaper Varesenews: «"Varese is not Salerno" and it is a storm. The poster around the city has not gone unnoticed. On our Facebook pages are getting hundreds of comments. The cliam is read in many different ways. And the news arrived also in Salerno. Do not miss Salerno's citizens who write on Varesenews».
The initial storm was calmed down, however, by the explanations of the administration. This was a teaser action – there were actually two kind of poster "Varese is not Salerno" and "Varese is not Pordenone" -before the proper campaign commissioned by the Mayor whose goal is the public awareness on the benefits of sorting waste.
On January 19th, in fact, the Mayor Attilio Fontana contacted his colleagues of Salerno and Pordenone with a letter in which he explained that the municipality of Varese intended to carry out a publicity campaign to sensitize the citizens to separate waste by referring into the posters to the two cities, virtuous examples for separate collection. Pordenone with 78.1% is the most virtuous city of the North in terms of recycling, while Salerno with 70.3%, has the best performance in the South. Varese, with 48.9% have already a good result, but municipal administration wants to improve these.
The administration's idea was certainly intriguing, looking at the amount of reactions triggered mainly on social networks. To evaluate the success, however, we must wait for the next phases of the communication campaign and above all ensure that the first interest of the citizens will turn into a real change in their habits in order to achieve the goal: to arrive by the end of 2012 to 65% of separate waste collection.
We'll see.
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