Natural Graffiti

by Emanuele Biestro

 The graffitis have always been disputed among the public opinion: who loves them, and consider them as a piece of art, and who hates them, stressing the chaos and the dirt they cause. Others think that they are only a communication tool: you write something that another people, walking absent-mindedly,read. From this comes the brilliant insight of Green Graffiti, which since 2007 use this communication tool.. in a sustainable way! The idea of this communication agency, coming from the Netherlands and then spread all over the world (so far it works in 12 States) is to use only low impact tools in the communication campaigns.  “We realize messages on squares and sidewalks using only natural materials, without adding solvents or other chemical products: reverse-graffitis created only with high-pressured water, chalk-graffitis with nebulized chalk, sand-graffitis with sand and natural glue, messages using musk and grass; in addition, we organize branded gardening events, giving new life to those green areas left abandoned”, Lorenzo Fabbri’s speaking, Green Graffiti Italia project manager. The graffitis are realized through an iron or aluminium template (like the one used by the roadmen to write on the roads, for instance), using a unique cast to reproduce the message, cast that then is completely recycled!
“The technique we use the most is the reverse-graffiti” says Lorenzo. “This method allow a relevant save of resources if compared to the paper posters, highly environmental relevant both for paper consumption and because of the water used during the production process. It is worth stressing that the water we use comes from the rain, collected through storage tanks or wells. One of our reverse-graffiti 1,50x1,50 m needs 12 liters of water, it does not produce wastes and it erases itself naturally, because it is sufficient to walk over it and the surface get dirty once again”. 
But it is not enough: indeed Green Graffiti uses two kinds of compensation, the hydric one, delivering for every graffiti 1 € to GreenAdsBlue, and the CO2 one, delivering 0,5 eurocent for every km travelled during the campaign to groenbalans, agency specialized on the CO2 compensation. 

>Concerning the communication topics, the targets are extremely various, but they could be brought back to those who attend the streets, such as pedestrians and vehicles: you can make a course, repeated messages, puns,.. Lorenzo confesses that during their jobs they get often in touch with people interested in what they are doing, notably street art or in general curious about what they are doing: at that stage we can also teach people something, mainly about sustainability! 

No doubt: graffitis have never been much greener!