Let's clean the world, 300 thousand for the environment

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27 September 2020 "Sometimes the trash is enough to eliminate toxins".

To stop the Puliamo il Mondo machine, however, not even a pandemic is enough: about 300 thousand volunteers this autumn, in full compliance with anti-Covid regulations, responded and will respond to Legambiente's invitation to take to the streets , in parks, on the beach, along the banks of rivers, in the centers and suburbs of small and large cities throughout Italy, at the call of the slogan "do physical activity that is good for you, but also for the environment".

Extraordinary efforts have been made for the success of this 28th edition of the Italian version of Clean Up the World, the largest environmental volunteer event in the world, organized since 1993 by Legambiente and, in fact, also the largest mobilization of organized active citizenship in the Peninsula after the months of the lockdown. From North to South, however, the coronavirus has not stopped even the gestures of incivility and neglect for the planet. Rather. He added "new" waste to those that already polluted the territories: first of all the masks, found in thousands of parks and coastlines once again suffocated by plastic and disposable. Among the types of waste found there are also cigarette butts, bags, containers for food and drinks in plastic and aluminum, bulky waste abandoned indiscriminately in nature such as end-of-life tires.

A trend also confirmed by the numbers of the Park Litter 2020 survey conducted in 73 urban parks by Legambiente and on which today the environmental association spreads a focus on the type of waste most found in the monitoring days. Overall, 27,854 waste is collected and cataloged, about four per square meter, 60% of which is plastic and 32% consists of cigarette butts. Among these, "disposable" products belonging to the "packaging" category, which account for 29% and 27% of the total waste found, respectively. In particular, of a total number of 8,082 "disposable" items recovered, 28% consisted of bottle caps or cans and / or can tabs, 11% of plastic caps and lids and / or rings, handkerchiefs and paper napkins, envelopes and bags. Crockery (including plastic plates and cutlery, glasses and straws) accounts for 3% of the total.

As far as packaging is concerned, of the 7,495 waste belonging to this category, 88% is attributable to food-type packaging, i.e. to glass bottles which account for 17% (1,241 out of 7,495), to plastic bottles (1,064, 14%) and bags of chips, sweets and candies (646, 9%).

 "Our historic campaign on waste illegally conferred by rude citizens and not collected by careless administrations, which feed the phenomenon of the marine litter, has brought out the problem of a new wave of disposable waste, because unfortunately the wrong belief has spread that disposable use reduces the risk of contagion from Covid ", explains the national president of Legambiente, Stefano Ciafani. "After a decade of achievements on this front, with the laws on plastic bags, cotton buds and microplastics in cosmetics, we have turned back. To catch up on the delay accumulated in the last six months of the pandemic, we need to approve the Italian transposition of the directive. European Union on single-use plastics before the deadline of July 2021 and, as soon as possible, also the Salvamare bill still under discussion in the Senate, approved by the House almost a year ago ".

Made in collaboration with the European Commission Representation in Italy, Puliamo il Mondo 2020 enjoys the patronage of the Ministry of the Environment and Protection of the Territory and the Sea, the Ministry of Education, University and Research, UPI (Unione Italian Provinces), FederParchi and Unep (United Nations Environment Program). Partners of the initiative are Poste Italiane, Novamont, E.ON, Virosac, Ecotyre, Hankook, Naturasì and Caes, media partner is La Nuova Ecologia. The appointment is also organized as part of the Memorandum of Understanding with the Ministry of Education, University and Research.

41 associations that have joined this edition of Clean the World, also in its formula Clean the World from prejudices, a series of initiatives on the themes of integration, coexistence and social cohesion against all forms of violence and racism, organized to "sweep away waste and prejudices". Among them, realities that deal with the environment, but also with migrants and asylum seekers, health, prisoners, disabilities, discrimination based on sexual orientation, foreign communities, as well as many young people, families, municipal administrations, representatives of the forces of order and public figures and the world of sport, who have personally participated in the cleaning activities or promoted the initiatives with messages launched through the media or their social channels. Overall, about 300,000 volunteers have participated and will participate in the activities organized in all regions of Italy: a calendar that for the first time continues beyond the canonical last weekend of the month (25, 26 and 27 September) and which it also extends to October, thanks to the bad weather that this weekend caused the postponement of some scheduled appointments.