The Waste Observatory of the Metropolitan City of Turin has recently resumed its full activity, publishing the waste collection data for the first quarter of 2020 which, as is known, also coincided with the lock down from the Covid-19 pandemic. How has the production of waste and the separate collection in the metropolitan area changed in this particular period?

Every June 5th, since 1972, the World Environment Day has been celebrated. The event, established by the UN General Assembly on the occasion of the launch of the Environment Program and celebrated for the first time in 1974 with the slogan "Only One Earth", it is an opportunity to take stock of many of the aspects that affect our common home.

Phase 2 and the gradual return to activity in the offices are closely linked with the daily need to be able to manage a "topical" moment of the typical day of an employee: the lunch break. How can we combine this need with the need to reduce as much as possible the waste produced daily by each of us? Agata Fortunato, official of the Metropolitan City of Turin, reflects on the theme with some bitter considerations: “One day, one meal, for one person; the quantity of waste produced is disarming.

On 22 April on the occasion of "Earth Day" (editor's note: see our News), the IPSOS institute published its usual survey on the perception of world citizens regarding the climate emergency. This year the survey opened with the question: "Do you think that climate change is as serious a crisis in the long run as COVID-19?". For 7 out of 10 respondents, the answer was yes.

Forced at home by the Coronavirus lockdown, many of us also dedicated themselves to home tidying, finding, abandoned at the bottom of the drawers, small appliances no longer used. Blenders, remote controls, joysticks, chargers, but also light bulbs, electric cables and so on. All these small wastes, which are part of the large WEEE family (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment), must be disposed of in the most correct way, not only for greater protection of the environment but also because, if properly treated, they are recyclable up to over 95% of their weight.

WasteMob, born in 2018 as a collection initiative of small waste abandoned along the banks of the Po and open to students, university staff and all citizens, this year due to the limits imposed by the Coronavirus emergency, has organized a photo contest on Instagram. The contest, called # MadeinCasa2020, foresees that from 18 to 27 May the participants (not only students and university staff but also Piedmontese citizens) publish their own images of recycling examples on their Instagram profile (i.e.

The mandatory use of the masks, which is essential to correctly face Phase 2, risks causing, as we have already highlighted on more than one occasion, a serious environmental emergency. In fact, according to estimates by the Polytechnic of Turin, the monthly need for masks in Italy could be one billion per month, largely disposable.

In a short interview Agata Fortunato, an official of the Metropolitan City of Turin, takes stock of the trend of waste production in the territory in this period of health emergency. First of all, Fortunato points out, it is interesting to note how waste in March has decreased in a consistent way, reaching an overall figure of -11.5% compared to March 2019, numbers that had not been recorded even after the crisis of 2008-2009.

Since 1996, the Waste Observatory of the Metropolitan City of Turin has managed a large database on urban waste. The data, collected monthly and processed in tables and graphs, are a fundamental tool for monitoring and supporting the implementation of territorial planning in the field of waste. After a period of forced stop, linked to changes in the internal organization, the work of the Observatory resumes at full speed.