The first edition of Riciclaestate kicks off implementing waste collection in tourist areas Maura Malaspina, regional councillor for the Environment and Luca Piatto, Head of CONAI’s Relationship with the Regions, get the Memorandum of Understanding underway with the aim of optimising and increasing in the region separate collection of packaging waste to facilitate recycling and recovery. In addition, the memorandum will start a regular and in-depth exchange of data about the management of this waste such as to define its final destination. Marche Region and CONAI’s signatures on the bottom of the memorandum consolidate a fruitful collaboration that started in 2011: over the next two years, both parties will share information about the actual recovery of waste. This information will also be used to give confidence to the countless Marche citizens separating their waste on a daily basis, providing them with positive feedback on the results of their efforts. Using CONAI’s skills in the management of packaging waste and the collaboration of bodies managing the collection of urban waste, the aim is to reach a methodology that “tracks urban waste” once it has been collected is treated in special plants, not necessarily located inside the region: a big challenge for regional technicians and the ARPAM involved in reaching the objectives laid out in the understanding. 
The effectiveness of regional policies is demonstrated by the positive separate waste collection results obtained at a regional level, increasing to 60.27%. “It is with great enthusiasm,” declared councillor Malaspina at a press conference, that we are taking on the European “recycling society” challenge, the cultural and innovative transition that wants to shift attention from the concept of separate waste to actual recovery, thanks to collaboration with CONAI”. “The understanding with Marche Region,” added Luca Piatto, Head of CONAI’s Relationship with the Regions, “ratifies a collaboration in a region that is already virtuous, contributing towards increased quantities of packaging materials being recycled and further reducing the recourse to landfill. Each of us can do something in this regard, given that we are all players in a process whose key principle is shared responsibility: the citizens separate, the Municipalities collect and the CONAI-Consortiums System guarantees the recycling of steel, aluminium, paper, wood, plastic and glass packaging.” A myriad of other actions will be implemented, each connected to a specific objective in the understanding. To get things off to a good start, this afternoon in Senigallia the first edition of “RiciclaEstate – Marche”, organised by Legambiente with contribution from CONAI and the support of Marche Region, will be launched. The event aims to implement separate collection in tourist areas at the start of the summer season. The initiative will run for about 4 months, from June to September. A number of different events are planned. The first event will take place in Senigallia and takes the form of animation targeted at children on holiday (Riciclolimpiadi and reusing workshops), held in conjunction with Festambiente Ragazzi. Events in other Municipalities in the region will follow, taking the form of fun animation and communication activities primarily taking place on the beach. What’s more, on the occasion of the Montelago Celtic Festival at Serravalle di Chienti (MC), “Tent to tent” separate collection will be organised with the distribution of kits and informative material.