Waste Management and Aware Citizenship at Traversetolo (Italy): the Project ECO-WAS
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
COMUNE DI TRAVERSETOLO PROVINCIA DI PARMA Waste management and aware citizenship THE EUROPEAN PROJECT The project ECO-WAS (ECOlogic- 1 WASte), funded by the European ECO-WAS aims to increase eco- at Traversetolo (Italy): the project ECO-WAS Union Europe for Citizens friendly behaviours in recycling Program, sustains a network and reuse throughout interaction between communities related to and participation among Antonella Bachiorri*, Alessandra Puglisi*, Laura Monica** & Silvia Scaffardi** the promotion of common values European citizens. and sustainable strategies for * CIREA (Italian Centre of Research and Environmental Education), Department of Life Sciences, University of Parma, Italy waste management. ** Environmental Department, Municipality of Traversetolo, Parma, Italy THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITY THE LOCAL CONTEXT THE COMMUNITY The Municipality of Traversetolo, starting from the European project, supported the growth The Municipality of Traversetolo (9.460 inhabitants) is located in the of a local network among different parts of its community (partners of the project and foothills belt to the south eastern end of schools), focused on the environment and its management and finalized to the development the Province of Parma (Northern Italy, of a shared culture of sustainability. Po River Valley). The development of the local network started with the involvement of PARTNERS http://www.eco-was.eu The economy of the territory is mostly based on some relevant actors, useful to give, from the beginning, scientific and agriculture and agri-food system, with a significant methodological support to the project: presence of related retail activities. IREN EMILIA S.p.A. CIREA Today the debate around the environmental value Multiutility for the management Italian Centre of Research and Environmental Education THE LOCAL PROJECT of the territory and the issues related to soil of waste, energy and water Department of Life Sciences, University of Parma consumption, pollution and waste management is THEAt LOCAL the beginning, PROJECT the actors shared an approach to PROVINCE OF PARMA LEGAMBIENTE VALTERMINA Education for Sustainable Development that, starting very strong in the community, also thanks to the 3 At the beginning, the actors shared an approach to contribution of the new local Sustainable Energy Environmental Department National environmental NGO from schools, involves people of different ages in all Environmental Education Service Local committee Educationthe contexts for Sustainable of their daily Development life (the citizens). starting Action Plan (SEAP), approved by the Municipality from schools and involving people of different ages in in January 2014. At the beginning, these partners were involved in a shared elaboration of the project. Later, all theIn contextsthis way, of atheir widespread daily life idea(the ofcitizens), education, they became resources for the main actors of the project in action: the Municipality of togethertransversal with an not idea only of toeducation the school which levels is and Traversetolo, the schools and their community. widespreaddisciplines and transversal, but also not to only different to the school learning 2 disciplinesenvironments, but to different is supported. learning environments. This approach, in addition, allowed to put the SCHOOLS The schools were considered the key actors for the involvement of the In addition this approach enabled to put the attention community; so, all the different schools in the territory of of familiesattention and ofthe families whole localand thecommunity whole local on waste community, Traversetolo (both private and public, from nursery to high school – promotingon “waste”, and tosupporting promote and best support practices best practices of of more than 1000 students) cooperated within the project: reduction,reduction, reuse reuse and and recycling recycling. useful for a shared TRAVERSETOLO European culture related to waste management, • Nursery school “Il Paoletti” (age 0-6) These actions are also strategic for the development of respectfula shared of the European environment culture and for the waste wellbeing management, of • Nursery school “Madonna di Fatima” (age 3-6) both presentrespectful and of future the generations.environment and the wellbeing of • Nursery school “Michelino Micheli” (age 3-6) both present and future generations. • Primary school “Gabriele D’Annunzio” (age 6-11) 4 • Junior high school “Alessandro Manzoni” (age 11-14) 4 • Technical high school (with an economical curriculum) “Maria Laura Mainetti” (age 14-19) ACTIONS WITHIN THE LOCAL COMMUNITY SOME STEPS OF THE SURVEY Some specific actions involving schools in relation to the different • Elaboration of the questionnaire (by high school students’ age, have given form to this experience of cooperation students); within schools and between schools and their territory, at the basis • Tutoring high school/junior high school students, of new practices for a sustainable community. involved in elaboration and submission of the In particular: questionnaire; 1. Educational projects involving all the school disciplines (eg. • Submission of questionnaire to: Art, Literature) finalized to reduce the environmental impact of a) all students’ families (by all the students), school. Some activities have been organized since the beginning b) a sample of commercial activities (by junior high of the project (eg. recycling, reuse, fresh snacks to reduce and high school students); packaging, tap water to reduce plastic bottles, composting), • Codification of the questionnaires in an electronic while others spontaneously born during every day class format (by high school students with some partners’ activities. Strong attention has been put to disseminate the support) thanks to a Survey software tool (Lime students’ experiences to their families, permeating all the THE QUESTIONNAIRE Survey, an open source software); community with good practices; The project involved students as active researchers. It meant, in particular, that • Elaboration of the results (by junior high and high 2. Survey about the daily waste management, thanks to a research was participatory and developed “with” students, enabling their role in school students) (in progress); questionnaire organised and submitted by students to citizens; contributing to project foci, data gathering, interpretation and action. This approach, consequently, aimed to empower and to raise the social consciousness of • Analysis and discussion of the results (by junior high 3. Activities for citizens organized by the local NGO Legambiente students in order to change their behaviour. and high school students); Valtermina and by Municipality of Traversetolo Environmental Department; On these bases, a questionnaire about the daily waste management, elaborated, • Elaboration of the research report that will be shared submitted (and analised) by students both for families and commercial with the European partners and the local community 4. Final meeting of the project (6-8 november 2014); it will give activities, has been developed. during the project final meeting (6-8 November 2014) the opportunity to discuss and to share with the European (by junior high and high school students, Municipality partners and the whole local community, all the activities It mainly put the attention on the perception of waste by the citizens of 7 of Traversetolo and some project partners); developed. Traversetolo and on the practices for waste reduction and management. 6 • Involvement of citizens for the dissemination of the It provided data processed and evaluated by the local high school students (thanks results and their discussion (by Municipality of to tutoring and peer-to-peer approaches within students of different ages), 5 Traversetolo). supported by their teachers and by some partners of the project (CIREA and Environmental Department of Traversetolo). SUGGESTIONS Even if the project is still in progress, T h e i n v o l v e m e n t a n d it seems an interesting opportunity to cooperation between the experiment: different stakeholders (schools and project partners) In this way we can contribute: • an intergenerational dialogue, thanks has not been easy to activate • to catalyse the development of to the involvement of students, their We hope also to develop a and to manage. an educational community families and the community; virtuous cycle (a spiral) based on a shared culture of In spite of this, the auspicious • that started from the sustainability and an aware, an intercultural dialogue which is to give, during the next started from the involvement of the European level (global), active citizenship; takes form at local level steps of the project, strength local multi-ethnic community, the and continuity to the virtuous • to build foundations, meanings different stakeholders and the and finally will give suggestions and ideas for cooperation between schools, and processes for a post UN partners of the project. This cultural local institutions and citizens. Decade on ESD in which higher dimension will be enriched by the f u r t h e r d e b a t e s a t European level (global). education institutions as the The poster QR code contributions of the European partners, University might reinforce their thanks to a continuum feedback during role in promoting a strong and the project development. fruitful school-community cooperation. 8 Designing a Sustainable Future through School Community Collaboration Final Conference of the Comenius Lifelong Learning Network CoDeS