An environmental challenge to end bag use

by Sofia Lorenzini


Porta la Sporta is a project that commits to educate and spreads environmental awareness through its four rules: reject, reduce, reuse, recycle. It is addressed to individuals, local authorities, traders and schools, promoting the reduction of disposable bags, used too often in the local markets and shops. It includes a series of proposals, such as The National Week of Porta la Sporta, held for the third time this year in the month of April and the latest Sfida all'ultima Sporta that will see, from November 1st to April 30th 2013, up to 20 Italian municipalities challenging to win a cash prize that will benefit the local school.

The initiative, managed by the announcement downloadable from the site, is promoted by Associazione dei Comuni Virtuosi, under the patronage of Ministero dell’Ambiente and ANCI, and it is dedicated to municipalities with an index of separate collection of rubbish not less than 60% and a number of inhabitants between 8000 and 17000. The winner municipality will be the one that, through a shared effort of all its communities, will be able to get the lowest consumption per capita of disposable bags. Thanks to the contribution of three sponsors, Banca Marche, Fra Production-Ecottonbag and Novamont, the winner will receive a cash prize of 20,000 euro.

Sfida all'ultima Sporta is inspired by a 2009 initiative held in Colorado, "Reusable Bag Challenge", which saw more than 30 towns and an entire county, created by a young nature lover, Dave Allen, to whom the Italian initiative will be dedicated. Sfida all'Ultima Sporta will take part in the European Week for Waste Reduction EWWR, from 17th to 25th November, 2012.

Porta la Sporta invites local authorities to participate also drawing on initiatives like Mettila in rete http://www.portalasporta.it/mettila_in_rete.htm (promotion of a reusable solution in the fruit and vegetable sector of supermarkets) and Sfida all'ultima sporta per negozi e scuole. The initiative for shops rewards citizens who use fewer disposable bags in the circuit of participating shops, and the initiative for schools is a format that involves single pupils, classes or schools that challenge themselves collecting as many as possible supermarket receipts without the charge of disposable bag. The project developers will have to develop the initiative on local level and make a prize for the winners. Thanks to the contribution of Banca Marche there is also a National Schools Award of 3,000 euro for the participating team on local competitions of Sfida all'Ultima Sporta for school who will gain the best result on a per capita level, details will be available soon on the website of the initiative.

Silvia Ricci, head of the Secretariat, says: "At the moment we still have a good availability of seats but as the inscription often come at the last minute, you should hurry up to avoid the risk of being excluded. For now we see an overwhelming prevalence towns of Veneto, confirming its role of national leadership in recycling. Sfida all'Ultima Sporta aims for unity and cooperation between individuals and communities to make the fastest adoption possible of new lifestyles and consumption patterns to gain measurable results in the short term. The urgency of this change can be noticed by the many "war bulletins" of the international scientific community but it has become a clearly audible message worldwide, starting from the speed-up of climate change. Earth Overshoot Day, the day when the Earth runs out of its available natural resources for the current year, arrived this year on August 22nd, only after eight months and more than a month in advance of 2011. What are we still waiting for?".