On Tuesday, March 28, the award ceremony for the winning actions of the European Week for Waste Reduction (EWWR) 2022 was held at Spazio Europa, managed by the European Parliament Office in Italy and the European Commission Representation in Italy.
Reading Time: 4 min.
The EWWR, launched in 2008 with a pilot edition in Italy, aims to promote waste reduction through actions to raise awareness and encourage active participation. Over the years, this European communication campaign has become increasingly popular, involving thousands of citizens, schools, businesses and public administrations throughout Europe. The campaign takes place each year with a specific focus: the theme of the 2022 edition was textile waste, focusing on an industry with a great negative impact on the environment at every stage (production, distribution, use and end of life).
The 2022 edition was organized with the contribution of Conai and the CIAL, Comieco, Corepla, CoReVe, Ricrea Consortium and Biorepack supply chain consortia, with support from Montecolino SpA, Mercatino Franchising Srl, Rete Riuse and Retex.Green Consortium.
At the European level, EWWR is led by the Steering Committee (SC), whose members are: ACR+ (Association of Cities and Regions for sustainable Resource management), ADEME (Agence de la transition écologique), AICA (International Association for Environmental Communication), Brussels Environnement-Leefmilieu Brussel, EMWR (The Eastern-Midlands Regional Waste Office), European Commission, European Committee of the Regions, Lipor (Intermunicipal waste management of Greater Porto), Principality of Monaco (Environment Directorate), VKU (Verband kommunaler Unternehmen) and WasteServ Malta.
The National Promoting Committee, made up of Legambiente, Utilitalia, CNI UNESCO, Regione Sicilia, ANCI, Federconsumatori Lazio, E.R.I.C.A. soc. coop. and AICA, and to which the Metropolitan City of Turin also has the honor of being a member since the first pilot edition of EWWR in 2008, had no small difficulty in choosing the winning projects in the different categories, this year's being a particularly rich edition of high-profile actions and initiatives.
During the award ceremonies, presented by Lucia Cuffaro and Roberto Cavallo, which were also broadcast via live streaming on EWWR channels, all the finalist actions of the fourteenth edition were illustrated and the winning actions were awarded in their respective categories:
- "All You Can Give" by Rete Cauto for the business category;
- "Fashionable waste? No, thank you!" by I.C. Milani Terracina, Secondary School of I Grade "Giovanni Opromolla" Angri, Liceo Luigi Pietrobono, I.C. Alfredo Fiorini Terracina, Istituto d'Istruzione Superiore San Benedetto Latina and Istituto San Giuseppe for the educational institutions category;
- "Do you have what it takes?" by Fare ECO for the association category;
- University of Pavia (GLOBEC and OSA) with "SERRiously Sustainable" for the public administration category is the winner again;
- Finally, "U.S.P.Y. - Unique Planet Sustainable Young" Francesca Passeri's action for the citizens category.
Among the finalist actions was the "Clothes in Circles" project of the Corona Northwest business network, which offered, throughout the week, an important service and space for careful citizen awareness-raising activities regarding used clothes and textile waste.
As usual, the Città Metropolitana di Torino was entrusted with the task of awarding the projects proposed by public administrations, along with the region of Sicily. The winner for the category was "SERRiously sustainable" implemented by the University of Pavia, which proposed: a conference with experts from the academic world, green influencers and sustainable entrepreneurship, a swap party for the exchange of used clothes, a sewing workshop and finally a workshop for the creation of creative and sustainable Christmas packaging. The highly articulated action allowed the Lombardy University to win for the second year in a row.
The various schools involved in the action "Fashionable waste? No, thanks!" and Montecolino SPA with the joint initiatives they promoted won the special prizes of this edition, presented to them by sponsors Mercatino and Retex.green.
An equally important moment was the remembrance of Serena Di Lucia, who for years managed the European campaign as a reference for all Italian action developers. To her, a special mention was dedicated and recognized to the Municipality of Cefalù for the action "SERR Cefalù 2022."
Finally, the awards were also the theater for the first anticipations about the 15th edition of EWWR.
Also in 2023, precisely between November 18 and 26, citizens across Europe will be called upon to devise a reduction, reuse and recycling action with thematic focus "packaging", which according to European Commission data accounts for 36 percent of municipal solid waste.
Tommaso Gregori