A project to improve the sorting of waste in supermarkets, in which Coop, In’s, Aldi and Pam were involved. The joint project of the Municipality of Trieste and Acegas Aps Amga was presented this morning in the presence of the councilor for territorial policy Michele Babudero, the director of environmental services of Acegas Aps Amga Massimo Buiatti and four of the six representatives of the large supermarket chains that participated.
The aim is to improve the quality as well as the quantity of the Trieste collection. It was explained that stores in Trieste have been collecting waste separately for a long time, but large chains understandably produce a large amount of waste, even just for the transport packaging of the products sold. The project aims to offer the possibility of improving the quality and quantity of waste produced by shops through targeted initiatives at individual sales points of the participating chains. To date, 6 large supermarket chains have already joined, Aldi, Coop, Despar, Eurospesa, In’s and PAM, for a total of 46 stores, whose managers have already been involved in specialized training organized by AcegasApsAmga.
The project in detail
Training is not the only activity offered by the project, although it is an essential first aspect, as it allows store staff to delve deeper into the subject of segregated waste collection and avoid waste disposal mistakes. As part of the initiative, AcegasApsAmga also carried out inspections in all participating supermarkets, with store representatives evaluating specific needs and the most suitable solutions to facilitate segregated waste collection based on available spaces. For example, dedicated key containers were provided in cases where the store did not have an enclosed space to store them. In the coming days, AcegasApsAmga will also activate an experimental service dedicated to the collection of organic waste in all supermarket locations involved in the project: the intention is to verify the quantity and quality of the wet product and to evaluate the possibility of making this service permanent. In fact, there are already many supermarkets that work with non-profit associations on projects against food waste. AcegasApsAmga experimental service therefore aims to collect only residual wet waste and shares a commitment to never waste food.
Communication campaign
To promote the AcegasApsAmga project and the municipality of Trieste, they created a window sticker that the participating shops will be able to display in their windows. The image shows the communication campaign spread in the city since September: on shelters, on board Trieste Trasporti buses and at the AcegasApsAmga stand in Barcolana. The sticker on the window, in addition to reminding that the store carries out sorted waste collection, also thanks to the participation in the project, aims to raise the awareness of citizens to also contribute in their daily life by sorting waste.