It’s time to take stock What a meadow! More separate waste collection, more decorationthe communication and awareness project conceived by the Municipality of Prato together with Alia Multiutility – the sole and entirely public manager of urban hygiene services in the area – born a year ago to combat waste abandonment, improve separate waste collection and promote urban decor.
In the last 12 months there have been more than 11,000 square meters recovered in Tari, 73 tax evaders identified, 10 tons of plastic recovered in a year but above all a considerable reduction in high fines, thanks to constant information and guidance of users on the correct disposal , in the face of a clear increase in checks by environmental inspectors, in each of the three areas placed at the center of attention: the historic center, Macrolotto Zero and large condominiums.
«In a multi-ethnic and already virtuous reality like Prato, which from a quantitative point of view exceeds 72% of separate waste collection, it is strategic for us – explains Nicola Ciolini, vice president of Alia Multiutility – to keep our attention high and work on the details to increase decorum, combat irregularities and improve the quality of the collection itself, leveraging active involvement, virtuous behavior of citizens and inclusion. ‘What a meadow!’ for us it is an example of how, by working in synergy and with an approach deeply oriented towards listening and the peculiarities of individual territories, great results can be achieved”.
The project started in May 2023, with an initial phase of listening and involving citizens through meetings and focus groups, in a participatory and shared process for defining the contents of the campaign.
The second phase of the project, which involved the historic center of Prato, revolved around 19 evenings of awareness and information, together with the positioning of 105 new bi-fraction bins for light plastic, metal, tetrapak and polystyrene packaging and undifferentiated waste and the posting of 400 posters and 250 posters in commercial activities. In the first four months of 2024, once the campaign was completed in the historic centre, there were 1332 checks (+61.45% compared to 825 last year), 1,047 waste inspected (+18.85% compared to 881 in 2023), but the sanctions are dropped by 82.93%, going from 41 to 7.
The third phase of the project involved 90 large condominiums considered most problematic from the point of view of respecting decorum and rules. After the awareness and timely information phase, each of these 90 condominiums was visited, between October 2023 and April 2024, by environmental inspectors, who issued a total of 41 sanctions in 24 condominiums (27% of the total), confirming a decrease of irregularities. In 5 cases (equal to 6% of the total) the residents understood all the information and changed their habits. However, a hard core of condominiums remains (14%) which presents major critical issues in the management of the pitches dedicated to separate waste collection.
In the fourth and final phase of the project the focus shifted to Macrolotto Zero. The 105 catering users present in the neighborhood were contacted and visited by Alia’s representatives, accompanied by an interpreter; the same also happened in 11 large condominiums in the neighborhood, furthermore the electric cargo bike and the ‘Che Prato’ operators also accompanied the parade that closed the Chinese New Year celebrations, distributing multilingual gadgets to explain how to carry out correct waste separation , register with the Tari, manage bulky items, etc.
The positive impact of ‘Che Prato!’ it is also noticeable in the latter case: in the first four months of 2024, there were 3,224 checks (+28.87% compared to 2,502 in 2023), the waste inspected was 4,997 (+99.76% compared to 2,502 in previous year), but the sanctions actually dropped from 83 to 70 (-15.66%).
