The national award ceremony for the European Week for Waste Reduction (EWWR) 2021 was held on Wednesday the 30th of March 2022 at the Auditorium of the Ministry of Ecological Transition.
The ceremony was presented by AICA (International Association for Environmental Communication), with the moderation of Debora Paolini and Ivana Ristovska: the aim was to give voice to the finalist actions of the thirteenth edition of the EWWR, selected by the National Promoting Committee of which AICA takes care of the secretariat.
The Ministry of Ecological Transition, host of the event and member of the Committee in support of the EWWR organization, brought greetings from the Undersecretary, Hon. Vannia Gava, in the intervention of Eng. Pierluigi Altomare of which we report a brief extract:
«As a citizen, I make one consideration: in Italy, we have a somewhat negative attitude towards us. We consider ourselves less capable than we are, but the numbers speak for themselves: the commitment to waste reduction, reuse and recycling is competitive and virtuous at the European level».
Afterwards, Emanuela Rosio (President of the AICA Board of Directors) presented the spirit of the campaign, which for thirteen years has played an important role in the panorama of environmental communication. She also thanked all the bodies supporting its organization, gathered in the National Promotion Committee, and the project partners: CONAI and the supply chain consortia of the consortium system.
The finalist actions and the winners for the individual categories were:
- business category (introduced by Bernardo Piccioli, Utilitalia): TENRA S.p.A., NaturaSì and Decathlon. NaturaSì was awarded the winner's prize with its SiamoCosìPerNatura action, aimed at reducing food waste and packaging, and characterized by a strong capillarity and planning of the initiative throughout Italy;
- citizen category (with distant greetings from Riccardo Varone, President of ANCI Lazio): Diana Dalle Molle (Go Diaper Free Italia), Rossana Gennaro (MessinAttiva) and Letizia Palmisano (Chiacchiere da bar). The latter, for the second consecutive year, won the prize with a literary sharing initiative at the Ragusa Caffè in Rome;
- category of schools (presented by Antonella Cassisi, Italian National Commission for UNESCO): IISS V. Ignazio Capizzi of Bronte (Catania), Liceo Statale Lombardo Radice (Catania), and Scuola Primaria Renato Natoli of Livorno. The winning action was that of the Capizzi Institute: Fabbrica del riuso, il Fab Lab a scuola!.
- category of associations (presented by Marco Mancini, Legambiente): Cleanap, o2italia con Slow Food Sicilia and APS Colibrì Onlus. The latter was declared the winner with the project for the recovery of electromedical machinery, destined for hospitals in Senegal.
- public administration category (introduced by Chiara Sarri and Giulia Pagella, Metropolitan City of Turin): Comune di Parma, Università di Pavia, Comune di Monte San Giovanni Campano. The recognition was won by the University of Pavia and by the OSA (Office for Sustainable Actions) with the SERRiously Sustainable action, which involved students of the University in a well-designed program dedicated to the prevention of waste production. .
Finally, Stefano Monticelli (Federconsumatori Lazio) presented a special mention: with the project Il pallet sociale, ECO.LAN S.p.A. obtained a special recognition, awarded by Ivan Illomei of CONAI, the National Packaging Consortium, which this year celebrates twenty-five years of activity.
For more than ten years, the EWWR has been a campaign that involves every category: every actor in society is in fact called upon to play a role in promoting a circular economy. Also, during the ceremony the thematic focus of the 2022 edition was officially launched: the EWWR 2022 will focus on “Textile waste”, a very cogent and important theme nowadays.