EWWR: let’s get it started!

by Francesca Morra



The National Organizing Committee (Ministry of Environment, Federambiente, Rifiuti 21 Network, Province of Turin, Province of Rome, Legambiente, AICA, ERICA Soc. coop., Eco dalle Città), after its meeting in Rome last July 19 at the Ministry of the Environment, officially opened the registrations to the fourth edition of the European Week for Waste Reduction to be held 17 to 25 November 2012.

The EWWR is an environmental communication campaign focused on reducing waste, originated within the LIFE+ project with the primary target of raising awareness among the institutions, stakeholders and consumers about all the strategies and policies for the waste prevention in the European Union, that Member States must pursue, even in light of recent regulatory measures (such as the waste Framework Directive, 2008/98/EC).

Event that has become indispensable for the supporters of a life with less waste, the past three editions have seen an increasing participation: 430 actions registered in 2009, 585 in 2010 and 960 last year! The significance of these numbers is mainly due to the fact that you have to be an institution or Public Administration, an association or a nonprofit organization, a school or a university or a company, etc. to became a project developer. So it is important to emphasize that the "week" works mainly because it is an opportunity to get together and develop action as a group. 

“This year’s innovation is the Italian Award. – Said Roberto Cavallo, President of AICA, which for the fourth year will be the Organizing Secretary- This will contribute to reward the most virtuous actions of each category that will display the reach of the week targets in terms of visibility and communications; originality; content quality and focus on waste prevention; action’s reproducibility and long term follow up”. In addicition, this year, we decided to advance the applications open up compared to the previous editions. 

In order to take part in the “week”and becoming a “project developer”, you have to subject the application form to the National Committee filling the form (Adhesion form), clicking on this link, in addition to the Committee’s other members websites and send it to serr@assaica.org. If the application will meet the European assignements, they will be convalidated by the Committee and will be named “Action for the European Week for Waste Reduction” and will receive the campaign’s kit and obviously the possibility to use the european logo. Also individuals can participate to the week by writing their personal commitments on the website board www.menorifiuti.org: everyone can write down their own waste reduction experience”.

Many other innovations are scheduled for this year edition, so follow the official website www.menorifiuti.org and the Facebook page. Be a part of the week!

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In Paris, a 3 days on waste reduction

by Francesca Morra

In the heart of the Ville Lumière, in the charming neighborhood of “Invalide”; a short walk from the Place de la Concorde, from the 18th to 20th June there was talk of waste reduction and how it is possible and actually achievable in many areas of France and Europe.

Three days of intense meetings: on Monday afternoon there was the COSTEC meeting (The scientific and technic committee of the European Week for Waste Reduction), which was attended by all the national organizers (Andorra; Austria: Styrian Region; Belgium: Brussels Capital Region, Flemish Region, Walloon Region; Brazil: State of Minas Gerais; Denmark; Dominican Republic; Finland; France; Germany; Ireland; Italy; Malta; Portugal: national, Greater Porto; Slovenia; Spain: Asturias, Bizkaya, Catalonia, Gipuzkoa, Navarra, Valencia; Sweden; The Netherlands; United Kingdom: Belfast, Buckinghamshire, East England Region, London, Scotland, Wales, Warrington; this year there will also be Estonia, Hungary, Iceland and Benin) and where there were presented the results of the previous editions. And what about the future? All the committed organizations want to continue to organize the SERR, despite the uncertain future of funding for the project Life+.

Tuesday morning more than 800 people gathered at the Maison de la Chimie, for the first European Meeting on the Prevention of Waste. On stage, different actors spoke in recounting their experiences of communication campaigns for waste reduction. For Italy, Roberto Cavallo spoke of communication campaigns on composting in Asti and promotion of detergents on draught of the Province of Turin. In the afternoon a representative of the European Commission unit, Alban de Villepin, talked about the 20 years of Life+, what is it and how it is structured. Then Valerie Jouvin, chef of the EWWR, explained and presented the results of three years project. After that, Mathieu Hestin talked about difficulties, strengths and outcomes of the impact of the communication campaign under way with the EWWR. The final outcome of the communication campaign will be presented in late July. After listening to 3 point of views of many project partners (Belgium, Catalonia and Porto) Olivier Declercq (ACR) and Toomas Trapido (foundation Let do it, Estonia) have discussed the future of the "Week": the 4 "historical" partners (ADEME - LIPOR-Port - Catalan Agency for Recycling - Brussels Environnement) have made available to ACR + (Association of Cities and Regions for Recycling, Brussels) a fund to ensure coordination at European level of the EWWR for the next 18 months. During the afternoon the awards for 2011 edition were held which has been discussed last week on envi.info.

The technical conference on Wednesday, June the 20th, organized by ADEME (Agency for Environment and Energy Management) witnessed several speakers, leaders of many seminars. This day allowed participants to have more information and better understanding of some specific issues: food waste, washable nappies and incentive methods for players in regions to reduce hazardous waste. In each of these events the public has participated actively interacting with the speakers.

 The effective participation of the public showed a real interest about waste reduction. The same can be applied to public authorities and the actors who daily work on waste reduction. For three days Paris was the center of waste reduction, we hope that the work will continue on this road and it will spread everywhere in Europe (and beyond).

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SERR 2011, the European awards

by Francesca Morra

Yesterday, Tuesday, the 19th of June, the award ceremony of the third edition of the European Week for Waste Reduction was held at the Maison de la Chimie in Paris. In recent weeks, a jury of experts evaluated the awareness on waste reduction that most stood out among the more than seven thousand actions throughout the old continent (and beyond). Prizes were awarded to five categories, one for each kind of project development facing the European project: public administrations, associations and NGOs, businesses, schools and other (hospitals, nursing houses etc.). The work of the jury must not have been easy, but came eventually to a mutual agreement. These are the winners: 

Administration/public authority category: The multi-use Styria Bottle - Specialised Division FA19D Waste and Material Flow Management, Styrian Chamber of Agriculture, Styrian winegrowing enterprises (Styria, Austria) - A campaign carried out across the Styrian region as a partnership between the public administration and the private sector, to increase the quantity of “Steiermarkflaschen” (Styrian wine bottles) that are refilled after their first use.  Association/NGO: Waste Reduction Awareness Project - Junior Chamber International Izmir (Turkey) - A broad campaign involving trainings in 19 schools in Izmir, a businessmen meeting on sustainable waste management, a coastal clean-up and a booth in a supermarket. 

Business/industry: Green Week - Queen’s University Elms Village (Belfast, UK) - Several activities implemented in a residential area housing around 1800 students, including in particular clothes, books and games swapping, a cook book and the handing over of ripped vegetables for free. 

Educational establishment: 49% Less Food Wasted in Bjurhovda School Restaurant - Bjurhovdaskolan/IDA unit (Sweden) - A project to reduce the amount of food waste in the school restaurant and showing the results by putting small balls in a transparent tube visible in the restaurant. 

Other: Better take care of the environment by reducing waste - Medica (France) - A project taking place in 162 nursing houses throughout France, which involved about 10000 dwellers and 7000 employees. Activities involved for instance cooperation with school kids to knit stoles from wool bits and give them away to the red-cross association, cooking workshops and composting trainings. 

The Jury’s favourite: As a Jury’s favourite award this year, the Jury has decided to deliver a special prize to highlight the high and constant quality of the actions nominated in Catalonia during the 3 editions of the European Week for Waste Reduction Awards Competition. This special prize has been handed out to the Organiser of the Week in Catalonia, the ARC (Catalan Waste Agency). 
The full list of candidate actions is on the official website of the European SERR. 

All winners were given a symbolic plaque and the European Waste Reduction Trophy created by F. de Ribaucourt. The climate in the awards ceremony was marked by a palpable atmosphere of celebration and satisfaction, manifested primarily by the members of the European Secretariat. The award ceremony was held inside the first "Rencontres de la prevention des européennes déchets" series of conferences and meetings on the reduction of waste and the SERR, which Envi return to speak in more detail in the next week. If you wait to see what the organizers decided on the future of the "Week" save the date: European Week for Waste Reduction 2012 will take place from the 17th to 25th November 2012!

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Guerrilla Marketing: a resource for environmental communication?

by Andrea Stecich

Covered market in Valencia. It’s 9 A.M. Careful gazes scan tomatoes, more expensive than usual, and are enamoured by bright colors of the fabrics and clothes. Suddenly, the butcher starts to sing an aria waving his ax, followed closely by the greengrocer, and then the cheese seller, the cloth merchant, the florist and so on. The music and the songs are spreading more and more under the market’s cover. Some astonished but delighted passers-by are singing softly a classic music opera’s tune.

Here's an example of guerrilla marketing, organized by the Valencia’s Opera to promote their shows. In slang we talk about flash mobs and it’s one of the most interesting (and less invasive) aspects of guerrilla marketing. Indeed, the name immediately calls to mind the idea of urban warfare: the aim is to win, neighborhood after neighborhood, everyone's attention on a particular topic. The methods are numerous, often original, and bordering on the illegal: stickers, posters, stencils’ adhesion on all available surfaces (floors, walls, arcades, shop windows) and in large quantities, creation of flash mobs and viral web campaigns. If the message is able to disrupt the passer-by, maybe desecrating the usual visual and cultural codes, the result can be explosive. 

The subject is very interesting and appealing, so that Turin’s Fitzlab association decided to organize a meeting about it. At the conference’s table were sitting Luisella Carnelli (Fitzcarraldo association), Carolina Lucchesini (Officine Corsare’s co-founder) and Nicola Facciotto (Kalatà advertising agency). They explained that this particular marketing interpretation, born in 1984, aims to go beyond traditional communication via two pathways: unlimited originality, up to breaking laws, and viral invasive messages. Using these weapons, the traditional communication’s effectiveness results enhanced, reaching (actively) a great number of citizens. This unordinary “fire power” costs: typically, a guerrilla marketing campaign is more expensive than a traditional one, because basic communication’s costs (guerrilla can’t do much without them) are added to those typical ones of guerrilla marketing, which often requires hundreds or thousands of stickers, stencils, flyers or postcards.

However, in front of the positive experience represented by Officine Corsare (dealing a socio-political theme), a question arises: what kind of application for guerrilla in environmental communication field? Speakers don’t say anything about it due to the subject’s complexity and variability. It’s not easy to judge it. However, if in cultural sectors, by nature highly creative ones, unconventional approaches to promotion and communication are tolerated, in the environmental field conditions seem to be generally different, limiting the number of available tools for a guerrilla approach. Among these ones, flash mobs and viral web campaign, if properly customized for each case, represent valuable tools to realize an unforgettable and participated communication campaign about environmental protection’s issues. In summary, guerrilla marketing is a surplus value for every informative campaign, but only if declined to be appropriate depending on the scope, particularly in environmental communication, as well represented by the awareness campaign, realized by Auckland City (New Zealand), on correct waste collection, named “Beautify your city”.

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EWWR 2011: The Italian finalists

 

by Francesca Morra

After 4 months since the third edition of the European Week for Waste Reduction there is still an important assignment to do: to award the most deserving, sustainable, original ones! The awards of the EWWR 2011 European finalists will be held on the next 18th and 19th of June during a ceremony featuring all the organizers and the finalists of every category (public administrations, associations, NGOs, firms, schools and “others”).

 The choice of the Italian finalists, among the 960 actions carried out and recorded has been very difficult for the Italian steering committee, composed by the Ministry of Environment, Federambiente, Rifiuti 21 Network, Province of Turin, Province of Rome, Legambiente, AICA, E.R.I.C.A. and Eco dalle Città. 

In the end, with a vote mediated by the Italian organizing secretary of AICA, the following nominations will be proposed: 
• Representing the public administrations, COVAR 14 with “Cook with the scraps”:featuring the Hotel Management school “Bobbio” of Carignano, Eataly, Slowfood, The Food Stand and local restaurants, it has been created a recipe book “Cook with the scraps”, and have been organized cook with the scraps courses. • Representing the associations, Reloader with the project “A neighbourhood for the environment: the good practice comes from the schools”: the event aimed at spreading conscious behaviours to reduce WEEEs, wastes of electric and electronic equipment and to prevent their indiscriminate abandon, making the students of the Rome Spinaceto neighbourhood assume active responsibility. The first action targeted to inform and give scientific data about WEEE. The second group of actions was about promoting among the public right views and behaviours. The third one has been the action “Clean the public park”, aiming at free the park from wastes. The last one was about a session of collection of WEEE at the High school Majorana. 
• Representing the firms, Farms of Puglia, with “QR-code - SERRevOIL”: it consisted of a new system of olive oil labeling, The Qr code, already used in other fields, is an encrypted writing which contains lots of information in little space, in this way we can save more paper than using the common labels. 
• Representing the schools, Primary school Galileo Galilei of Ispra with “Box? Yes, thanks”: the events in the school have been a lot: the “Fruit-a-day”, that is a day along the week when children had a break eating fruits or vegetables; the daily use of the bring break box without any packaging; the use of flask or a reused bottle or a glass for the tap water, the use of the school’s composter to recycle the organic waste. Even the parents have been involved and the dealers close to the school for the purchase of sustainable breaks. 
• Representing the category “others”, S.E.N.A.P.E., with “Baumobag”; at the tailoring lab “RiciCuci” (where used clothes are recovered) have been made shopping bags using empty packs of cats and dogs food. The packs have been collected through an ads campaign nearby the dog and cat pounds managed by S.E.N.A.P.E., the schools and the animal shops. 

oon we will know if these interesting initiatives could take part to the European finals: in the meantime we congratulate them for reaching such an important goal we wish them “good luck”!

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Varese is not Salerno: racist campaign or smart advertisment?

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.

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Marriage between tourist accommodation and zero waste philosophy

by Silvia Musso

Federalberghi Capri sanctioned with association of municiplities Anci, a memorandum of understanding which aim is to progressively reduce by 2020 the waste productionfollowing the Zero Waste strategy suggested by Paul Connet. The project, called "Zero Waste Hotel", wants to contribute to land and environment conservation, main factor of attraction for hotels.
The identified incentive is given by substantial discounts on TARSU, fee directly relate to the production of waste - producing less waste you pay less, producing no waste at all you won't pay anything - a benefit for the municipalitie sthat will support less financial burden for the wate collection and disposal service.
To better understand what this project is, we interviewed the President of Federalberghi Capri, Mr. Sergio Gargiulo.

What are the advantages for accommodations?
«The hotel industry is going through a delicate and important changes due to the economic crisis, which impact significantly on the balance of companies, but also to profound changes in consumers lifestyles who constantly stimulate entrepreneurs to differentiate their economic offerings, investing in training and professionalism of the staff and on the quality of service with the help of professional equipment and looking more and more for those products linked to the territory. In this reality, therefore, the role of a union of companies, such as Federalberghi, is not only trying to protect the category, but also to propose tools to improve. This is the meaning of this project that tries to start this sector on the road ofenvironmental sensitivity transforming it into a value and competitive element».

Do you believes that this innovation may have a greater appeal among tourists?
«Marketing experts say that consumers are increasingly focused on issues of respect and safeguard of the environment and tend toward virtuous companies. According to recent surveys, in fact, over 40% of bookings in the hotels is also evaluating the sustainability of the structure, and in the world there are more than 30 certification bodies for eco-sustainable hotels. The sustainable location has two fundamental characteristics: it provides a better travel experience to tourists (authenticity, flavor,color, smell...), it lasts over time and therefore allows the touristic businnes to work with a long term perspective».

What are the strategies for communicating the new philosophy to customers?
«The first key element that provides our project is the training of our staff so that the customer perceives the philosophy implemented in our hotel. Advise for a correct implementation of the Protocol will be placed in the rooms. Finally, during international trade fairs and on web portals our procedures will be given and those who apply our protocol will be identified by a label called "A star for the environment". Federalberghi, along with prestigious and influential partners, has wanted to promote the label as a clear and positive message for a better future for both companies that it represents and for whole».

Among the 14 municipalities that have joined the project stands also Naples, the largest administration. The idea is to extend these practices to all national hotels. The relationship between accomodation and waste reduction is a virtuous path already taken in other European countries. We hope that Italy, the country of tourism hospitality, will be able to welcome this new challenge and effectively communicate it.

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New urban scenes ... of garbage

by Eleonora Anello

How have the streets of our city to the door to door collection of waste? Often this areas do not look so nice. In the worst cases, they tend to resemble small unauthorized landfills. Meanwhile, however, it is a price to pay to get a better quality of recycling. In Auckland, New Zealand, instead, they have found a creative and glamour way for collecting the garbage, thanks to the campaign "Beautify Your City”.

The design project took shape in the distribution of special garbage bags depicting green hedges or colored pansies, instead of traditional bags for collection. The unsightly red envelopes have been banned during the blitz called "Trash Day" and replaced with green ones offered by the citizens and businesses of downtown. The streets of the city were thus converted into neat and unexpected green spaces where even the garbage is not able to alter the urban decor.

This phase of the campaign, which started in November 2011, aimed to combat fly-tipping of waste, especially that of oils and educate traders to take out the trash at the right time, to avoid small temporary landfills in the city. The inititive was carried out by the association of downtown merchants Heart of the City along with the municipal administration in view of the Rugby World Cup.

«The flower beds will help to beautify the problem areas of the city and and remind businesses and residents of the need to do their bit to keep the city clean», said Jane Stewart, Project Manager , Heart of the City. At the launch of the campaign, she added: «The CBD is the heart of Auckland city and the state of our streets leaves a lasting impression on visitors. This is an important time to win the hearts and minds of tourists as well as improve the environment for residents and workers».

"Beautify Your City" has created an atmosphere so evocative that has been immortalized by several images that have flooded the Web in a short time and that have been around the world, reaching an unexpectedly target. To show that aesthetics can not be underestimated, we are pleased to present this best practice, so that other communicators and other administrators make more livable and more beautiful their cities. And who knows whether a glamorous and fun bag will be able to make more enjoyable and profitable the challenging task of waste collection and separation, inescapable duty of every citizen.

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Green Flag for the Engim Artigianelli, Turin

by Emanuela Rosio

Students and pupils of compulsory education courses in the professional training center Engim, Piedmont – Turin, after more than a year and a half of daily work, have received the prestigious European flag of Eco-Schools. This is the first school in the Province of Turin and the first professional training center across the country that gains this recognition.
The flag was delivered by Daniela Marchetti, FEE contact for Piedmont, to the kids, teachers and the Director of the Institute, Marco Muzzarelli, during a press conference at the lounge bar of the Institute on January 26.

The event was attended by Enzo Lavolta, councilor for the environment of the Turin Council, and Carlo Chiama, councilor for the education of the Province.

Protagonists of the meeting were the kids of the eco-committee, who read the “Ecocodice”, and told how, every day, they study different ways to manage the wastes produced by the school, making observations and analysis, and involving the trainers in many eco-friendly practices, ranging from bike sharing and intelligent purchasing to paper recycling

The Ecocodice is divided into two parts. The first one is related to the Training Agency, which has to commit to make eco-friendly purchases and disseminate best practices in sustainability among the staff and the students. The second section regards directly the students, who have translated the code into a series of icons that will be disseminated throughout the school, together with rules to be followed to reduce the impact on the environment. Particular interest was aroused by the rule that says "pick up any litter on the ground even if it was not me to throw", showing how the students have been able to take charge not only for their own actions but also for those of their mates. It also demonstrates how the activity of a committee is able to determine a change of course involving everybody at various levels.

After listening to the rules and the method developed by the kids, Roberto Cavallo, President soc. coop. E.R.I.C.A. and president of AICA (International Association for Environmental Communication), says that here we celebrate the important step of a path of growth. He invites all the presents to feel, through their own testimony, active part of a network of sustainability, which can even look at forms of corporate competitiveness.

The eco-committee informs that all divulgation material can be downloaded from: www.torino.engim.it.

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With the hands in the rubbish

Paola Alagia, Massimiliano Iervolino. Preface by Gian Antonio Stella. Reality Book Edizioni. 152 pagg. 14€

Review by Roberto Cavallo

I’ve just finished reading the book by Alagia and Iervolino.

I’ve devoured it. Not only because it’s about an issue that I’ve been studying for twenty years, but also because it’s well written. Fluent. It’s seems to be a novel.

When you go back to read a paragraph you found it true. What you are reading is dramatically true. The names, the places, the dates: everything is true.
And with them it’s true the pollution of a vast area of Rome and the connivance of the administrations that let it happened.

“What is Malagrotta? I believe it will become ‘Buonagrotta’* for the service it provided to Rome and to almost the whole Lazio region…” This is one of the sentences of Manlio Cerroni, “the lawyer”, owner of Malagrotta and of many others dumping grounds and waste disposal plants in Lazio. These sentences are extracted from the statements he issued to the Corriere della Sera newspaper and from his auditions in the Commission for the Environment in the Chamber and in the Senate. They are at the beginning of the book.

Then you read the book. You get involved into the story of the “king of the rubbish”, of the politicians who governed Rome, its Province and the Lazio Region and of the place where there’s the dumping ground. And then you arrive at the recent analyses made by the ARPA (Regional Agency for the Protection of the Environment), where it’s said: “the results from the 2010 survey confirm the ground waters contamination observed in the previous monitoring campaign of the site, both for inorganic and organic compounds… On the basis of these results we stress the need of measures for securing the site from the diffusion of the contamination, and we suggest subsequent recovery plans of the site […]. The most important information is not the peak of the 2010, compared to the 2009, but the fact that the numbers of the last year show that the pollution is not decreasing, but increasing instead.”

So you think that maybe it hasn’t really become “Buonagrotta”!

The seriousness of the situation is confirmed by several attached documents, including analyses, graphs, scientific publications about the impact of the dumping grounds on human health, as long as copies of the reports to the Public prosecutor’s office.

The subtitle “the disaster of the ‘partitocrazia’**. The Malagrotta case: the eight hill of Rome” describes part of the book. Because the work by Alagia and Iervolino is not only a denunciation, but also an attestation of the efforts made by the Malagrotta Committee and by its resolute president, Sergio Apollonio. It’s also suggested a regional plan of waste management, which should stress the relevance of the prevention and the waste separation so that, if dumping grounds have to be there, at least they’ll be marginal and not dangerous.

It’s a book that leaves a door open for the hope, because, if “the problem is difficult to unravel […], two points are sure in this story: the citizens, that won’t accepted the decisions made by the top, and Europe, which likely keeps an eye on this situation.

* Malagrotta, which is the name of the dumping ground site, literally means “bad cave”, while ‘Buonagrotta’ means “good cave”. It’s a wordplay alluding to the supposed goodness of the Malagrotta site.

** partitocrazia means a situation in which political parties control all the institutions.

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From stranded waste to Christmas decorations

by Silvia Faletto

Eat the Mussels caught few hours earlier along the Coasts of our Sea, this is always a pleasure.
However, even if this practice is done wisely and environmentally carrying out, this activity often brings damages that we don't view : the remnants of broken and useless fishing Nets end up on our Beaches, and they become a seroius Danger to all the fragile Ecosystem based on coastlines.

For this Reason, Legambiente Volunteers in Mola (BA) regularly collect Litter over the Mola's Coast , and for Christmas 2011 they propose a new Way to bring new Life to what otherwise would be another Sea Garbage.

From the Transformation of Nets, in fact, it has been create a "Christmas' Ega": this is a nice eco-friendly Decoration to our Tree, and it also helps to protect the Environment from which it come.

Obtained by wrapping the fishing Net around a Egagropile (a sphere of residues beached Posidonia, an aquatic plant typical of the Mediterranean), the “Christmas' Ega” is part of the Achievements designed to promote a Christmas craft that respects the environment.

How to write the president of Legambiente Mola, Antonella Berlen, the objectives to achieve with this campaign are numerous and ambitious: "The first Goal of this Initiative is to collect a very specific type of Waste that is present in large Number to our Shorelines: the infamous Net used to Processing Mussels. In addition to this, we want to approach the Garbage and its transformation in a creative Way to Rejection, and also we would Reduce the new Trash produced by buying decorations impactful.

Morever, the campaign wants to bring financial Support to the association, and so to contribute to the expenses (rent, electricity, telephone, water, etc.), which otherwise fall on already committed volunteers. Finally, we wants to give the opportunity for this Christmas, to transform the Net into another already designed Decoration, to allow the Ball to get back on the coast of Posidonia."

Subscribing a “Christmas' Ega” to associations and businesses that participate to this Project, we'll contribute to a important Campaign, which calls each of us to work to the Present and the future of Italy!

For more information: Legambiente "The Capodieci - from the countryside to the sea", www.legambientemola.it.

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In Berlin the garbage makes fun

by Irene Gozzelino

She writes on her own website that she´s feeling especially persuasive. She is ironic about the daily life of the citizens, made of walks with dogs, cigarette´s butts and garbage. She´s funny and she dresses only orange.
We´re presenting you the garbage disposal services of Berlin, managed by the biggest firm in Europe in this sector.

The firm is called BSR, an acronym that means “Berliner Stadtreinigung”, simply “cleaning of the city of Berlin”, and it was founded in 1951. Apart from an efficiency guarantee from 6000 employees and from 2000 vehicles for the waste collection, the BSR is remarkable for her communication capacity.

Every year the streets of the German´s capital are invaded of a new and funny advertising campaign about waste collection, street cleaning and garbage collection, that changes with the season. The cold colors of ice and snow mark the winter, more warm colors recall the summer´s sun.

The colors are changing but not the objective: to change our own bad cultural and emotional background about garbage and who collects it.

As you can see in our Facebook gallery, the garbage collector is represented like a familiar person: he takes care of the city (the home of all) taking away the garbage exactly like we do at home (the slogan is: “like at home...only more”).

In another image we´re seeing The Big Kathrine, an enormous child, that is dominating the city like a giant: she´s so big ´cause all the children, learning from an early age, can give a big contribution to clean the city, now and in the future.

Then the advertising images are genial that invite to throw away the organic rest in the appropriate baskets: most famous classical paintings are deprive of fruits and vegetables ´cause “old vegetables belong to the compost´s basket”.

Finally, we need to mention the trashcans on the street; they have an intelligent structure with an hole only for cigarettes, and are always provided with funny slogans like “CO2´s collector” or “WOW WOW it´so amazing how you have collected the defections of your dog the right way!".

Thanks to this this strong advertising campaign, the just diligent citizens are made aware of the recycling collection. One result is, that every year 6000 tons of organic waste are produced and transformed into bio gas that is used by the vehicles of the street cleaning and garbage collection.

The color of the BSR is a harsh orange, and we must state, that in this case, orange has never been so green.

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CleaNap: guerrilla cleaning in Naples

by Annalisa Tancredi

Waging a guerrilla, armed with brooms and shovels, against administrative malpractice and negligence for historical and cultural places of Naples. In Campania, a dozen of young students and precarious under 32, called "The angels of rubbish", decided to clean Neapolitan squares and places of worship, organizing some guerrilla cleaning flash mobs. They are CleaNap - Piazza Pulita, a voluntary movement born on Facebook and become, in a few months, one of the most covered by national and international press. In few days the fans number grew up, active citizenship joined the idea of shaking the city swamped by lawlessness, administrative inefficiency and waste.

On June, 4, the first ecology-swoop started from Piazza Bellini, then the ecology-from-below movement reached Porta Capuana, Santa Maria la Nova, Piazza Matteotti. Now CleaNap is a voluntary association for social solidarity and environmental sustainability and in next year intends to clean up Vesuvius National Park, to contrast its decay. Emiliana Mellone, one of the organizers, tells us something more about the association.

How was the movement born?
CleaNap was born as a viral proposal shared among Neapolitans citizenship. I created an event on Facebook "Let's clean Piazza Bellini, each of us equipped with broom, gloves, maps: occupy squares!"; I invited my virtual friends, social network sharing mechanisms did the rest. We were 100, 200, then also 400! Later, people met in squares joined the team of friends and after this summer we set up a voluntary association.

What about "The Sound of 3R", your proposal for EWWR?
It was a flash mob seeking to involve passers-by. We emphasized the importance of recycling, reuse and reduction through games and questions and a musical and improvisation acting performance. We contacted the Bateria Pegaonda who played with instruments made from recycled objects.

What about the future? Have you planned other guerrillas?
In December we will be involved in the Asia's campaign "Four days of differentiation" about re-using paper and cardboard and composting. About long term plans, CleaNap is the Italian partner of Let’s do it! for the 2012 World Cleanup, a campaign made by volunteers coming from more than 100 countries, for cleaning up countries from illegal junk. We have a very ambitious project, cleaning up the Vesuvius National Park!, that needs to be endorsed by a massive support from all citizens, private and institutions. We need many people from all over Italy who want to join us for cleaning a national symbol that in last time has been victim of illegal spills. If many people will take part in the initiative, then we can achieve important goals: not only the recovery of abandoned junk in nature, but also a real structural intervention, which needs also the help of the institutions.

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The third edition of the European Week for Waste Reduction 2011 comes to an end

by Rosa Puig i Moré & Francesca Morra

Sunday, November 27, was the last day of the third edition of the European Week for Waste Reduction, which has implemented more than 7.000 actions across Europe; once again Italy obtained the second place award with about 960 actions carried out around the country!

In Italy, the media coverage for this edition has been especially remarkable due to numerous appearances on television and radio. There were three runs on “Striscia la Notizia”, by Cristina Gabetti, on “Canale 5”: Saturday, November 12, Saturday, November 19 and Saturday, November 26 (with an average of over 4 million viewers). Two runs on RAI3, one on Ambiente Italia and one on Chetempochefa with nearly 2 million viewers. In addition, several special episodes and interviews on local channels, radio, digital channels and online TVs. There have been also several publications on the press: e.g the Corriere della Sera.

Even though the rain hasn’t stopped for some days during the “Week”, Project Developers haven’t been discouraged. In fact, even in those places where bad weather caused serious inconveniences, Organizers found the way to carry out planned initiatives, giving attesting the true passion of people who adhere to the "Week" and who make this yearly growing initiative possible. In June 2012, in Paris, the European Awards will be given to European most original and worthy actions, basing on the evaluations made by a panel of experts.

This has been the third and last edition of the European Week for Waste Reduction within the LIFE + Program of the European Commission, but the Italian promoter of the “Week”, Roberto Cavallo, President of AICA, confirms that this project won’t stop here: “The European Commission is evaluating the possibility to keep up the economic support to the European promoters coordinated by the Association of Cities and Regions of Brussels. Anyway, the European Environment Commissioner Janez Potocnik, has already declared that this is one of the most important and most successful initiative of the last 10 years, so we hope the initiative continues.”

The Italian Promoter Committee, composed by the Environment Ministry, Federambiente, Rifiuti 21 Network, Province of Turin, Province of Rome, Legambiente, AICA, E.R.I.C.A. and Eco dalle Città, expressed his gratitude to all the Project Developers who organized so many interesting and successful actions and also who participated in them.

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Turning waste into a resource. It happens to the EWWR 2011 markets

by Eleonora Anello

It’s really rewarding getting rid of the objects we do not use anymore. It's good for the spirit and... for the environment! For this reason, the barter and used markets have become a must among the actions dedicated to the European Week for Waste Reduction.

This weekend, across the Milan’s hinterland, and more precisely in Mesero and Albairate, two important markets of barter, reuse and repair will be held. It’s important because they build up a relationship across the area and are part of a more complex process, as told us the President of the Consorzio dei Comuni dei Navigli, Carlo Ferrè: «We started on the occasion of the EWWR 2010, organizing in Vittuone the NoTrash Mob in the schools. We went on with the campaign “Il primato della leggerezza” ("The primacy of light"), seeking to decrease the amount of waste produced and at the same time to improve the separate waste collection and the quality of life of our citizens. On this Monday the educational phase of our operation will start. With the help of some volunteer groups, we're going to assess family by family the quality of separate collection applying different tags on waste bags. This tags are red, yellow and green depending on the quality and will be motivated to make clear to citizens what they are doing wrong if they're wrong».

Among stands of books, toys, kitchenware and jewelry we also met the deputy mayor of Mesero, Giuseppe Fusè. «As soon as the Consortium proposed these initiatives we immediately responded with enthusiasm. The action has a strong impact on the environment because it removes from the disposal a large number of goods which may be still used instead of becoming waste. Furthermore, it has a social impact creating a virtuous circle involving all citizens and inviting to reflect on the possibility to repair some items instead of throwing them away. To be more sustainable, we advertised the event mostly by mail and through word-of-mouth, avoiding an excessive production of leaflets».

The Mesero market was also a place of education through the information point in which were distributed the campaign’s bags and the “Centalogo”, a guide to the correct disposal of waste. The plumber who gave useful advices on how solving small housework and taught domestic water saving has been particularly appreciated by participants. The highlight of the day was the construction of a recumbent bike from salvaged parts of old bicycles, managed by Ecobent. The market has been constantly monitored using recording sheets of occurred trade, in order to get an effective estimation of saved waste.

In the meanwhile, today Sunday, November 27, in L'Aquila, a city that has always cared a lot about the EWWR despite the hard time it lived during the launching days of the first European edition, the barter Market is being held on - Exchanging not Throwing, initiative coordinated by the Environment Office and ASM Spa. The president of the multi-service company Luigi Fagiani said: «We wait for citizens in this important event in the Dante Alighieri school, on Onna Street. To be a good example is first and foremost our responsibility as administrators. In fact we will be bringing some objects there and actively participating in the initiative. A smart way for getting rid of no longer useful items and for replacing them with others we need without creating waste. The goal is to transform waste into resources».

So... have a good bargain at all!

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School of reduction

by Silvia Musso

Again this year the schools have not been denied. For the third year, in fact, the percentage of participation of schools at EWWR has been very high.

As already shown by the action of the Pozzuoli School (Naples province), which in 2009 had won the European Award for schools category, the strengths that make effective the initiatives proposed by schools are the involvement of the community and the will to extend their duration at the whole school year. From all over Italy the enthusiasm and interest of students, teachers and headmasters on environmental issues of waste prevention widespread beyond the narrow boundaries of school walls to involve different actors: households, neighborhoods, people, shops.

Thanks to EWWR environmental education activities from few hours cut throughout the school year hve become true programming to be integrated to traditional programs.

This is what the three schools, among many others, demonstrated.

The “Istituto Comprensivo of Fiano” (Turin province, north Italy) with “Lo Zero Rifiuto!!! …. Buone pratiche sul territorio” (Zero waste!...Good pratctises on territory) conducted a brainstorming session on ways to reduce waste at school and organized a visit to a site that deals with the problems of waste and its reduction (composting site, company repair shop, second hand ...). It also began to network different local actors - municipalities, mountain communities, industries - for a project to be realized in the future and aimed at waste reduction, with the realization of a conference or a projection of films followed by discussion and an exhibition on the activities and achievements of students adressed to parents and inhabitants.

The “Istituto Comprensivo Galileo Chini – Scarperia” (Florence province, centre Italy) November 21st with "Rifiutili" (Useful waste) has sparked a number of initiatives that will continue throughout the school year. Students and teachers will dedicate to the creation of a laboratory of recycled paper, visit the store "Mercatopoli" that sells second hand items, to read passages about the restoration, reuse and recycle, reuse for the snack food not consumed during the lunch, etc. The parents of the students will also be involved in workshops as well as work of restoration of old objects in the school, to be sold during the year in the flea markets of the city centre, in the exchange of used textbooks, maintenance and renovation of school buildings and restoration and sale of used games.

The “Primo Circolo Solofra” (Avellino province, South Italy) instead made a real ecological week where the most important element was the involvment not only of students, engaged in "Operation Empty Garbage Bin", but also of their families. Parents had to agree to accompany their children to school on foot throughout the Week and to organize at home information meetings with relatives and friends to spread some good waste prevention practises to play in the week.

The schools have become a source of prevention messages addressed to the whole community through not extemporaneous actions, but integrated in educational activities, in continuity with previous years and with the cooperation of families and other local actors. The academic world has shown that the EWWR in these three years has succeeded in its main communication objective: to make the waste reduction a common practice, a lifestyle and not only a sporadically activity as teacher Anna Maria Dreoni of Scarperia claim: «The school has always had an eye for environmental education, adhering to initiatives and projects that, broadly speaking, had the intent to educate pupils to feel good in their environment. We think that in the first cycle is the fundamental task of the school teachers to educate children to the economical use of objects and their affairs and hence resources. EWWR offers us the opportunity to tell our children that we are in a broader horizon, which at the same time in which they reflect and carry of the laboratories, there are millions of children and young people across Europe who think the same problems and perform activities similar to theirs».

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QR-code for SERRe Salentine’s extra virgin olive oil

by Annalisa Tancredi

A slice of bread and a thin drizzle of oil are the symbols of simplicity and culinary heritage of Salento’s greenhouses (Serre Salentine) that, during the European Week for Waste Reduction 2011, will be the backdrop for oil tasting and waste prevention events and of the presentation of "QR code SERR ev OIL” project.

In occasion of the period of oil production and SERR 2011, many local farms will promote best practices to optimize oil preservation, production and consumption among those tourists who every year visit Salento to taste new oil. The initiative focuses on three main themes: waste-oil reduction (longer life product), waste-packaging containment (less waste thrown out) and the optimization of resources (produce in an eco-friendly way).

Expert agronomists will explain preservation best practices for a “Longer life product” to the testers along the "oil’s streets", in order to ensure a chemical and organoleptic integrity and at the same time reducing waste. In this way is possible to “throw out less waste” like oil or packaging like bottles or containers; the aim is to raise awareness among consumers and producers and to promote reuse of containers or alternative packaging system.

But the top-of-the-range is the launch of a new best practice to “Produce in an eco-fiendly way” for oil businessman: it's the “Qr code SERR ev OIL” project (a new oil labelling system), sponsored by City of Lecce and Radio Skylab. Qr-code, already widely used in other sectors, is a cryptogram which codify a considerable mass of informations in less space. The project developer Antonio Stea explained the operation: "Once photographed, the Qr-code will direct users to the company’s website where they can find a variety of information about the characteristics of the product, price, food combinations and best preservation techniques to lengthen the product shelf life. It’s also possible to insert a link to an audio/video, so consumers can taste the oil and at the same time listening information about oil, its origin country and the history of Salento’s greenhouses".

In addition, the code could reduce labels’ size and obtain a substantial savings of paper and petrochemicals-derived materials.

The iniziative is certainly an original and innovative way to take part in the SERR advertising in the same time waste reduction, digital technologies and Salento typical products.

It’s possible to taste new extra virgin olive oil from Saturday 26th to Sunday 27th November at the following farms: Imbriani in Casale Marchesi (Casarano), Agrosì (Supersano), Manco Antonio (Alliste), Faraioli (Casarano), Bernardi (Tuglie) and Agronatura (Taviano).

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Let’s put our bins on a diet!

by Marzia Fialdini

EU citizens produce 2% more waste every year; in Italy each citizen generates on average 10.5 kg of trash per week: quantities that have to be dramatically reduced. For raising institutions’, stakeholders’ and consumers’ awareness about the waste prevention strategies and policies enacted by the European Union, was created the European Week for Waste Reduction (EWWR), this year at its third edition. From November 19 to 27, initiatives will be promoted across the country in order to inform as many citizens as possible about simple everyday actions for preventing waste.

On Sunday, November 27, in Madama Cristina Square in Turin, from 10 am to 6 pm, to the motto: I refuse! - The commitment of all to reduce waste, Amiat and City of Turin will organize a big street party to promote small good daily habits which enable to reduce waste at source and to weigh less down on the environment. Through games, workshops, entertainment and markets, public will be able to understand the importance of using objects for as long as possible, the importance of making separate waste collection and to change bad behavior in order to reduce waste production.

Other organizations will attend the event: the Torino Province which will support the campaign on reusable nappies; SMAT, encouraging tap water drinking through the Water Bar; Coldiretti Torino, which will teach children to transplant seedlings and potted flowers with compost; the Environment Museum, with its Ecological Footprint Laboratory; the Ecologos Research Institute, which has been campaigning on reducing the packaging of communication products and has started a chain of light stores, just to name a few of the many initiatives which are present there.

Thanks to the collaboration of the CSI-Piemonte - Consortium for Information System - an online game has been created. It can be accessed from a mobile phone in order to enable anyone to face the new challenge: the effective capacity of each of us to put our bins on a diet.

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Thanks to COVAR14, food waste play a leading role EWWR 2011

by Andrea Stecich

What about bread and pasta left-overs? These days it’s a quite weird question.

Many of us, for various motivations, prefer getting rid of them in the rubbish or, more sensitively, recycling them through the compost heap collection system. Anyway, thrown waste are still edible and rich of nutritious: in the EU, 89 millions of tons of food per year are thrown away, and 42% of them come from our kitchens, rather than from supermarkets. Starting from these facts, on the occasion of the European Week for Waste Reduction which will take place from November 19 to 27, COVAR14 (South Turin Province Consortium for Waste Collection) decided to spread an innovative and strong message in order to stimulate public’s reflection, even though the practices are actually not so revolutionary, because our grandparents already used to reuse food waste.

Following the tradition then, COVAR14, in collaboration with Istituto Alberghiero Bobbio di Carignano, Eataly, Slowfood, Banco Alimentare and the restaurateurs, produced a “left-overs recipe book”. This was an opportunity for restaurateurs to show their cooking skills. Istituto Bobbio has been involved in organizing the scheduled events (three cooking classes and a left-overs dinner open to citizenship) thank to its teachers professionalism; Eataly Slowfood and Banco Alimentare will be in charge of food supply and transportation, and they will form the technical panel during the final dinner. The dishes, cooked by Istituto Bobbio’s personnel, will be voted according to different categories (maximum reuse dish, zero consumption dish, the best dish etc.), For giving visibility to the initiative, posters and press advertisements (Corriere di Moncalieri, il Carmagnolese, Luna Nuova, il Mercoledì) have been produced, and municipalities have also been involved. The recipe book will be the starting basis for the EWWR events, and it will be handed out by the municipalities or during the events. Otherwise you can download the pdf version from the COVAR14 website.

This way we can bring home a fragment of the ancient “reusing art”, for spreading across friends and relatives, saving money and preserving the environment.

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Becoming a zero waste company

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.

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