ROME, SEPTEMBER 20TH- Monday’s Climate Summit will demand of political leaders actions, and not just words. All Countries have been urged to arrive with a proposed solution, and only the most ambitious projects will be granted speaking time. The focus of this year’s General Assembly is action, action that must come from governments, entrepreneurs, investors. However, the Fridays for Future Strike and Youth Climate Summit are a reminder that action must also come from individuals and the community. Climate change can only be fought together.
In Rome, a new experiment is underway to further the engagement of citizens in environmental matters. The initiative is called ‘the more you recycle, the more you travel’ (+ricicli+viaggi) and it consists of three plastic-recycling machines -supplied by CORIPET- placed at the metro stations of Cipro, Piramide and San Giovanni. These machines are connected to a ‘virtual wallet’ app, downloadable on your phone, which allows you to be accredited 5 cents for each plastic bottle inserted in the machine. Inserting 30 plastic bottles will therefore win you a metro ticket. Meanwhile, the plastic bottles are recycled and transformed into new bottles, thereby advancing the principles of a circular economy.
This experiment, due to run a 12 month experimentation phase, reconciles two important values: that of recycling and that of favoring public means of transportation. Both values are equally important for leading a green life-style. The Italian Minister for the Environment Sergio Costa, due to arrive in New York for next week’s climate summit, responded with enthusiasm to the initiative, reminding us however -through a Facebook post- that “the ideal is to be consuming less one time use plastic bottles and favoring instead water bottles”. (@OnuItalia)