The European Week for Waste Reduction (EWWR) opened on 19 November, now in its fourteenth year, continuing to actively involve numerous actors in society, inviting everyone to do their part.
This year, 16.129 actions will be implemented across Europe between 19 and 27 November 2022. Italy is once again confirmed as one of the most active countries for waste reduction thanks to no less than 5.778 initiatives, 1.026 more than last year.
This is a major milestone that brings together citizens, public administrations, businesses, associations and schools that are attentive to the environmental issues of waste reduction as well as its proper management in a single international awareness campaign.
The Metropolitan City of Turin also decided to respond to the call to action with two concrete actions.
The Europe Direct Turin Office, in collaboration with the Communication and Relations with Citizens and Territories Directorate, organised an internal collection of disused (broken or expired) roll-ups in order to envisage their reuse or proper recycling.
For the second action, the choice fell on the organisation of a Swap Party of clothing and mugs, to give relevance to the thematic focus of this edition of SERR: "Circular and sustainable textiles".
The event is taking place at the headquarters of Città Metropolitana di Torino (C.so Inghilterra, 7, Turin) and is open to all employees. The Swap Party consists of an asynchronous exchange: during the EWWR, employees can bring clothes and accessories they no longer use and collect, free of charge, others left by their colleagues.
The choice of these peculiar objects is dictated by two distinct motivations:
- clothing and textile accessories were chosen to give relevance to the thematic focus of the year, and in particular to raise awareness of the introduction in Italy of the mandatory separate collection of textile waste from 1 January 2022 (Legislative Decree 116/2020)
- cups and mugs were chosen to promote the possibility of using one's own cup at the hot drink vending machines in Città Metropolitana di Torino building. Thanks to a sensor, the vending machine recognises the presence of the cup and does not dispense the disposable cup, also saving the customer 8 cents. This saves a lot of disposable cups, substantially reducing the production of waste by employees, as well as combating CO2 equivalent emissions.
The action aims first and foremost to promote good practices of reduction and reuse, essential aspects for combating waste and protecting the environment that are too often put in the background.
Alessio Haberstumpf
To learn more about the Swap Party initiative:
Our registration at the EWWR!
For more information:
Public administrations in Italy are trending with EWWR 2022
Associations at the forefront of textile waste reduction
Today's textile waste turns into tomorrow's resources companies mobilise
Also read:
The obligation to recycle textile waste comes into force