“With our companies we are able to give a direct response to the change of an ecologically unsustainable present towards a better future than the one we are living now. Every year we recover 150 thousand tons of secondary raw material. This is equivalent to saving 500 thousand barrels of oil a year, 300 thousand cubic meters of potential landfills and we employ 200 people in addition to the related industries. When it comes to smart economy, it is precisely plants like ours that make the difference. But the plant engineering alone is not enough. We need to continue the work of involving people from all social classes. We have created a video with a jingle that we hope can help to get these issues into the heads and hearts of all citizens”. With these words Angelo Bruscino, manager of Green energy holding, opened the works of the forum “Sustainable development and community well-being: what challenges for the future” that took place in San Vitaliano, in the province of Naples. “A pact to promote the circular economy as a cutting-edge theme in Italy is more indispensable than ever today,” stressed Edo Ronchi, president of the Fondazione Sviluppo sostenibile, for whom “starting a circular model of economy, environment, climate and resources is a good economic deal that creates new jobs, good opportunities and interesting challenges. Sustainability is absent from the political agenda because there is always some other priority. We do not have the correct perception of risks and there is little knowledge of the possibility of transforming the risks themselves into opportunities. The interests of the green economy are making headway, the problem is giving them more space”.
The opportunities offered by the circular economy were at the center of the reflection of Francesco Guido, regional director of Southern Italy of Intesa San Paolo: "The world economy is at a crossroads that, if taken correctly, can give the economy a new turn towards the fifth industrial revolution which is precisely that of the circular economy which is not only a question of protection but also a question of individual and collective profit". Looking at the numbers, the prospects would be all there. By 2030, all European countries will have to reach 80% separate waste collection. Italy would be behind schedule and new investments in plants would be needed to get closer to the finish line. Only four Regions would have exceeded the 65% objective (Veneto, Friuli, Lombardy and the autonomous provinces of Trento and Bolzano) while the others would have difficulty exceeding 50%. To go further, new plants should be built and on this topic, the vice president of the Campania Region, Fulvio Bonavitacola, confirmed the commitment to invest in this direction "for the construction of 15 new composting plants of 30 thousand tons in addition to the already substantial commitment to offer the citizens of Campania a cutting-edge collection system. The challenge is to create an effective synergy between the public and private sectors and improve the plant network to exceed the 183 thousand tons of material collected and get closer to the 80% goal".
The involvement of citizens would be a fundamental part of this race, as Bruno Rossi, director of Greenenergy, emphasized, for whom "We can only look to the future by supporting the planet starting from the young generations to whom we entrust it. The ever-increasing involvement of the very young is already an objective of our companies and I must say that the response is absolutely positive". Maria Teresa Imparato, president of Legambiente Campania, also focused on the topic, highlighting that "the new generations have shown us that they have acquired awareness that must now be transmitted to politics". "The circular economy is a revolution that must see the participation of citizens - concluded Imparato -. To implement it, however, there is a need for facilities, otherwise everything becomes more difficult".
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