International focus is on the Tuscan city of Capannori for their differentiated trash collection and recycling centres.
The city began their campaign 'Rete Rifiuti Zero' (Zero Trash Network) in 2006 and are continuing at full speed - so much so that at a convention held April 26 and 27, they launched an important challenge: zero garbage by 2020.
The Tuscan town as the first Italian city to take such measures to ensure environmental well-being and respond to the problem of garbage disposal.
Capannori says yes to door-to-door garbage pick up and no to dumps and incinerators, promoting a sustainable society where garbage is totally recycled and reused.
Results were presented during the course of an international meeting promoted by the city and attended by numerous foreign delegations from Belgium, England, Poland, Croatia, the United States and various Italian cities.
The results for Capannori's project were record breaking: recycling went up 65% in the month of March alone.
The quota for differentiated garbage collection was up 5% in 30 days, which testifies to the efficiency of the door-to-door system, which reached even the outlying areas of the city in February.
Over 4,820 families (12,330 citizens) can take advantage of the new garbage programme, and over 800 businesses take part in the project. The project involves over 26,200 residents - more than half of the city's population.
Mayor Del Ghingaro said: ''Other than the obvious environmental benefits, our trash collecting system has allowed us to created 35 new jobs, to help families save 20% on fees and to have a cleaner city.
''All of this was possible without an increase in costs. I would like to thank Ascit for their dedication as well as residents for their sensitivity''.
During the course of his talk at the convention, Del Ghingaro also announced that home pick up, which now includes approximately half of the population, will be extended to the entire city territory by the end of 2008.
There is also a new programme that will allow each resident to pay the environmental garbage tax (TIA) according to how much garbage they actually produce.
For two days during the international conference, Capannori was proclaimed the national capital and avant-garde experience for garbage collection and recycling.
Political comic Beppe Grillo participated in the conference via telephone. Grillo commented, ''Capannori has started an amazing thing. It is a virtuous city. Cities should all do this; make transparent choices alongside their citizenry. You can count on me to support your city's actions''.
In fact, Capannori is not just talk but also action, as is noted by an experience that has become good practice: from 2004 to 2007 over 56,000 tons of trash were recycled and differentiated trash totalled over 10,000 tons.
These numbers are concrete gestures for the protection and defence of the environment. Thanks to paper recycling, at least 100,000 trees, approximately 2.85 million litres of water, and the emission of 9,100 tons of CO2 have been saved.
Capannori reached its goals as the first city in Italy to launch new future challenges to succeed in recycling all garbage within the ideal (but not too utopian) date of 2020.
The city is a national example of how Tuscany is increasingly sustainable and attentive to environmental protection.
