A Brief Summary

The Genoese city officials reached an agreement with the local Ecuadorian Consulate to execute joint campaigns to boost awareness regarding separate waste collection among the city's immigrant groups. Ecuadorians make up the largest foreign community in the Ligurian capital.

The agreement was signed in Palazzo Tursi by Gustavo Palacio Urrutia, Consul of Ecuador in Genoa, Matteo Campora, Councilor for the Environment of the Municipality of Genoa, and Pietro Pongiglione, President of AMIU (the municipal waste management firm).

It highlighted that ecologically sustainable growth is only genuinely possible if everyone living in a city knows and supports the separate waste collection and related activities.

It originates from a common desire to establish a positive system of information, awareness, and participation of all Ecuadorian citizens who live and work in Genoa in matters relating to the improvement of separate waste collection, in the name of transparency and for greater environmental and community protection in the neighbourhoods where the communities reside.

The parties concerned intend to form a beneficial relationship by holding meetings to study the challenges of proper garbage disposal and separate collecting. These will be supplemented by the distribution of multilingual awareness communication materials targeted exclusively towards Ecuador's Genoese population.

Ecological days, similar to those promoted by other organisations, will be promoted, combining environmental education messaging with outdoor activities such as cleaning beaches and woodlands or creating awareness of the proper separation and transfer of various materials.

Eventually, it is planned to exchange and distribute best practices among Ecuador's major cities. As is already the case with other European towns, in the context of European environmental programmes, for the exchange of experiences in environmental education and garbage disposal awareness.